Monaghan Integrated Development marks 30 years

Castleblayney had two reasons to celebrate on Friday, September 18, as Monaghan Integrated Development marked 30 years of local action on the same day the town celebrated what would have been Big Tom’s 90th birthday. With offices in Castleblayney, Monaghan Town and Carrickmacross, MID used the milestone open house event to reflect on three decades of community-led work across the county and look ahead to the challenges and opportunities to come.

CEO Killian Cawley traced that work back to 1996, when County Monaghan Partnership was set up to tackle unemployment and social exclusion from the ground up. The idea, he said, was that “local people know best what their communities need". Today, MID delivers programmes across employment, education, enterprise, social inclusion and rural development.

Cawley paid tribute to MID’s voluntary board, staff, long-serving employees and his predecessors Lorraine McKenna and Gabriel O’Connell, while also remembering colleagues who had died. Looking ahead, he said communities face pressures from climate change, fuel poverty, digital exclusion and misinformation, and that MID’s job was “to build strong, resilient, sustainable communities that can weather any storm”. He also called for secure, ring-fenced funding for local development, and lobbied Government representatives present to champion the continuation of the LEADER programme beyond 2027.

His vision was for “a healthier, greener, inclusive and enterprising Monaghan where people are supported to fulfil their potential".

Voluntary Board of Management chairperson Mary Mullen said Monaghan had changed beyond recognition since 1996, shaped by the peace process, technology, remote working, migration and Covid-19. MID had changed with it, moving from a strong focus on long-term unemployment into wider work around confidence, health, language, volunteering, enterprise, education and inclusion, while staying true to its roots “supporting people, strengthening communities and creating opportunity”.

Ms Mullen said that, while numbers mattered, they never tell the full story. “Behind every figure is a person who gained confidence, a community group that was able to continue to work, a business that created employment, a volunteer who found a new role, a rural project that became viable, or a newcomer who found a place in our community,” she said.

Minister of State Niamh Smyth praised MID’s staff, board and volunteers, praising the organisation for keeping people and community at its centre. Pointing to the scale of the work, Minister Smyth said: “In 2025 alone, MID invested almost €3M into County Monaghan. Almost 2,400 people received support through employment and social inclusion programmes, while more than 220 communities and voluntary groups benefited from assistance that helped strengthen local life across the county.”

Marianne McEneaney, who looks after LEADER for MID, said the Europewide programme’s strength was that it was “locally driven”, not a one-size-fits-all scheme. Funded by the EU and Irish Government, it supports enterprise, community development and environmental projects in Monaghan in areas such as biodiversity, water protection and tour guiding.

Groups supported through LEADER include Sillis Green Veg, Glaslough; Brehon Brewhouse, Essexford; Knocknagrave Environmental Centre, Tydavnet; Síolta Chroí, Carrickmacross; Scotstown GAA; and the River Blackwater Catchment Trust.

“Over the past seven LEADER Programmes, €31.3M in direct investment has come into Co Monaghan, with 194 projects supported in the last decade alone,” Ms McEneaney explained.

County Monaghan Partnership grew from the first LEADER programme in 1991, when Aidan Murray was working with Bailieborough Co-op. Mr Murray initially saw the EU rural development scheme as something the co-op could run for its members, but the programme had to reach more widely. The former Fine Gael councillor recalled applying for the co-op to run the EU rural development scheme: “I thought it would be good for the members … but it had to be broader than that.”

He then contacted the other co-ops including Monaghan, Lough Egish, Virginia Milk Products and Bailieborough, as well as Teagasc and farm organisations, bringing together the rural partners who wrote the programme and laid the foundations for County Monaghan Partnership. LEADER worked, Murray said, because it was driven from below: “The ideas come from the people on the ground, and that’s very important.”

People Power

People Power 2026 was also launched at the MID Open House event on Friday, September 18. The initiative is an audit of County Monaghan’s community and voluntary sector, being carried out by Monaghan Integrated Development, Monaghan County Council and Monaghan Public Participation Network with KW Research and Associates.

Community and voluntary groups are being encouraged to complete the survey, the findings of which will help the three organisations identify supports needed and, where appropriate, lobby for change. The survey link is available through the MID, Monaghan County Council and Monaghan PPN websites.