Local grants: Mayo gets €300k
Ireland’s Age & Opportunity awarded support to 41 groups in County Mayo as part of a €300,000 Active National Grant Scheme that will assist more than 1,000 clubs and organisations this year. (The Connaught Telegraph reported the local awards as part of the national Sport Ireland program.) (con-telegraph.ie)
Forty-one groups in County Mayo have been awarded €11,790 for older people’s sport and exercise activities under Ireland’s 2026 Active National Grant Scheme. (con-telegraph.ie) Age & Opportunity announced the Mayo awards on Monday, April 13, 2026. The charity said its national scheme will distribute €300,000 this year to more than 1,000 clubs, groups and organisations, with funding from Sport Ireland. (con-telegraph.ie) (ageandopportunity.ie) The Mayo recipients include Family Carers groups, Men’s Sheds, Women’s Sheds, Irish Countrywomen’s Association branches, Active Retirement groups, Physical Activity Leaders and other community and sporting organisations. (con-telegraph.ie) The grant scheme is aimed at one specific task: helping local groups get older adults moving through recreational sport and physical activity. Age & Opportunity says the money can support participation in community settings rather than elite competition. (ageandopportunity.ie) For 2026, individual awards were set at between €250 and €700, and applications closed at 12 noon on Friday, February 27, 2026. The same programme was promoted earlier this year by local sports partnerships and county councils as a national funding round for older-adult activity. (ageandopportunity.ie) (tfaforms.com) (tipperarycoco.ie) The programme has become a recurring part of Ireland’s community sport funding. In 2025, Age & Opportunity said it distributed €300,000 to 988 groups nationwide, including €13,440 for 45 groups in Mayo. (sportireland.ie) (con-telegraph.ie) Age & Opportunity has said the grants have awarded just under €8 million to date, with funded activities in recent years including tai chi, aqua aerobics, pickleball and kurling. That places the Mayo awards inside a national effort to fund low-cost, local activities for older people rather than one-off county projects. (ageandopportunity.ie) For Mayo’s 41 groups, the result is straightforward: small grants arriving in April for equipment, sessions or programmes that get older residents active in their own communities. (con-telegraph.ie)
