Dublin - Community Finance Ireland

Posted on August 7, 2023July 27, 2023

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– Community Finance Ireland delivers €3.8million in support of local sports clubs –

The oldest skiff-rowing club in Dublin will be launching their traditional skiffs from a modern new pontoon at the mouth of the River Liffey thanks to support from Community Finance Ireland (CFI).

Founded in 1936, St Patrick’s Rowing Club in Ringsend has taken the All-Ireland Senior Skiff Race title 16 times in the last 20 years and has secured gold in international competitions in London and Italy. The club now boasts a membership of 100 people, aged from 9 to 90.

Treasurer at St. Patrick’s Rowing Club, David Cox said that the new infrastructure will enable the club to streamline their activities – getting their heavy training boats on the water with less manpower – and crucially make their boats fully accessible for wheelchair users. He said:

“Skiff racing originates from hobbling – a competitive business which saw working boats race to approaching ships to pilot them into port and win the contract of unloading and loading their cargo.. When this practice was outlawed in 1936, clubs began to appear all along the Dublin coastline and beyond, with our own club here in Ringsend being the first. So much of our community is steeped in this rich history but we also want to give our members the best, most advanced infrastructure that we can and importantly, to make it accessible to everyone in the community. This new pontoon means we can get everyone out on the water to enjoy this fantastic sport.”

Traditional skiff boats are 25 feet long, housing four rowers and a cox.

*Pictured at St Patrick’s Rowing Club’s Ringsend base in Dublin City are the club’s youth members*

Visiting the new pontoon, Barry Symes, Head of Community Finance Ireland ROI, said:

“Watching the team here at St Patrick’s Rowing Club working together – it really is all hands on deck to move these skiffs down the water but with this new pontoon you can see how much easier that task is for them. It’s taking the strain off the existing members, getting them out on the water quicker, where they want to be and crucially, it’s opening up the sport to a even more people by making the boats more accessible.
“After recent open days, St Patrick’s have welcomed over 60 new members in the last few weeks. The team here – David, Phil, Irene and Richie – have all been involved since childhood and they’re passing their love of the sport on to the next generation. There’s a rich history here in Ringsend and there’s no doubt of the club’s future either.”

Community Finance Ireland provide tailored social finance supports to grassroots and community organisations across Ireland. In 2022, the team delivered over €3.8million in social finance loans to sports clubs such as St Patrick’s Rowing Club which accessed a bridging loan of €40,000 to undertake the planned developments.

This bridging enabled St Patrick’s to unlock two approved grants, from the Sports Capital Grant and from Dublin Waste to Energy Community Gain Projects Grant Scheme.

If you and your sports club need advice on funding options available to you, get in touch today or follow us on Twitter for the latest Community Finance Ireland news.

Posted on March 21, 2023April 4, 2023

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– Community Finance Ireland delivers €4.87 million in support of Dublin communities since 2016 –

Fifty years since the people of Glenasmole took it upon themselves to build a community hub in the local area, Glenasmole Community Association (GCA) is preparing to reopen the doors of the newly renovated community centre. The community-owned building has undergone major refurbishment over the past two years with the support of Community Finance Ireland (CFI).

GCA board member and project manager, John Lee said the newly expanded community space will serve generations to come:

“Our ambition with this refurbishment project was to create a space which will serve young and old and everyone in between from our local area. We’re a small community here and this centre has been at the heart of it for decades but the building itself just hasn’t been fit for purpose. The original hall is now extended to include a kitchen space and meeting rooms, with underfloor heating and full disability access. It’s been a huge project for us but all the work will be worthwhile when we can open the doors to this new warm, inviting space to everyone.”

Glenasmole Community Association Dublin Community Finance Ireland Loan — *Photographed at Glenasmole Community Centre are Barry Symes, Head of Community Finance Ireland ROI; Glenasmole Community Association board members John Lee and Angela McCann.* Photo Credit: Julien Behal.

After being awarded a Dublin Rural LEADER grant and funding by South Dublin County Council for the planned refurbishments, Glenasmole Community Association approached Community Finance Ireland in 2020 to provide a bridging loan of €292,000 to undertake the works.

John says the bridging loan from CFI brought their dream to reality:

“If it wasn’t for Community Finance Ireland, we wouldn’t be here today. I’m a retired quantity surveyor and I’ve managed building works and budgets my whole career but for our group here – who are all volunteers – the sums we were looking at to get this off the ground were daunting. Because they support volunteer and community groups, CFI didn’t ask us for personal guarantees, and just talking to their team eased the financial fears. Nothing felt unsurmountable after that.”

Visiting the site ahead of completion, Barry Symes, Head of Community Finance ROI, congratulated John and the GCA team on the project’s success. He said:

“At CFI we talk about changemakers – the people in local communities who see an opportunity to create something and go for it. Glenasmole Community Association are the epitome of changemakers from the day they set out to build the original centre from scratch. We’re delighted to have supported GCA in this project and I have no doubt that they’ve created something which will serve the community for their next fifty years and beyond.”

Located just ten miles from O’Connell Street, Glenasmole is a small, rural community in the Dublin mountains. In 1972, the newly formed GCA purchased and erected a second-hand, pre-cast concrete pavilion, completing ancillary works in 1974. Built and run entirely by volunteers, the community hall became a hub for all generations, providing a much-needed space for Mother and Baby Groups, Youth Clubs, Drama Group productions, as well as a HSE-funded Health Clinic.

With the building works almost complete, the GCA has their sights set on the surrounding areas with plans to develop walkways and biodiverse landscapes in a 5-acre plot that has been purchased for community-ownership.

John said:

“There are people who grew up in Glenasmole and spent their childhood running wild in the mountains, who have moved away and now bring their own kids back to visit – we want them to think of this centre as their home too, to meet and reconnect with the community and the beautiful surroundings we have here.”

If you and your community facility need advice, get in touch today or follow us on Twitter.

Posted on June 22, 2021June 22, 2021

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At Community Finance Ireland we take a hands-on approach when it comes to working with our clients. We put people first. When our clients call with a query, they hear a familiar voice at the end of the phone. They know the face who is at the other end of an email. Our Change-Makers are on the ground, supporting communities, meeting clients and making an impact in their regions.

We speak finance but we hear people – So, we thought you might like to get to know them a bit better.

Our first Change-Maker is Emmett O’Hara, Client Executive from Meath. Working with clients like Alone, Irish Association of the Deaf and Dublin Food Co-Op in North Leinster, Emmett is passionate about getting out on the ground and helping our clients make change happen.

Some of Emmett’s clients from L to R: Alone, National Society of the Deaf and Dublin Food Co-Operative

What did your journey to Community Finance Ireland look like?

I came to Community Finance Ireland after 24 years at one of the top finance lending businesses in Ireland where I went direct from school and worked through numerous roles initially in back office support before progressing though to credit risk, and front line commercial banking management roles. In that time I’ve also studied for a BSc in Credit Risk from Dublin Institute of Technology/Technical University Ireland. I hold a QFA and a Professional Diploma in SME Credit from UCD/Institute of Bankers. So, I bring a lot of financial experience to the team and I’m still learning! I’m currently studying for a Diploma in Big Data from Dublin Business School.

What does your current client base look like? Are there sectors you expect to see or want to see growth in?

Our current client base includes a good number of sports clubs, particularly GAA Clubs, but there’s also a mixture of social enterprises, faith-based organisations, organisations in the health sector, environmental organisations and community working hubs.

In terms of how our client base might change or grow in the future – it will all depend on what communities need. We’ll continue to maintain and develop strong relationships with our existing clients across those sectors and keep talking to people in local communities to understand where else we can provide the support they need. We’ll always look to expand our offering in sectors such as the environment and community working hubs which are definitely a key focus from a government and, more generally, a societal perspective given the great changes we’ve seen in the last year or so.

Do you have a client that, in your opinion, best demonstrates the impact Community Finance Ireland can have?

In my opinion, I would have to say Let’s Get Talking – a non-profit Counselling & Psychotherapy Service providing accessible, professional, non-set fee therapy across Ireland. Each client of the service is treated according to their needs and not what they can afford to pay. They focus on early intervention, supporting adults and children in relation to a wide range of issues ranging from depression, anxiety, stress, relationship issues, addiction, trauma, bullying, eating disorders, parenting issues, and family breakdown support.

Let’s Get Talking have seen a 53% increase in demand for access to their services due to the pandemic. Community Finance Ireland has been working with Let’s Get Talking for the last year providing support which has allowed them to increase their weekly appointments to clients nationally and helped them to be proactive in their response to the mental health implications of the pandemic. Our support has meant that Let’s Get Talking remained accessible to clients by providing online counselling & psychotherapy since March 2020.

Let’s Get Talking is now in a stable financial position and ready to move to the next stage of their strategy to further provide mental health services to the community. Community Finance Ireland will be there to support them along that journey whenever they need us.

How do you switch off from work? What are your hobbies and interests? (Do you play with any local clubs? Do you coach any local underage teams? Are you involved with a community group?)

I live with my family within walking distance of Bettystown Beach in County Meath, so a large part of my unwinding time is spent there!

Both of my children are involved with local sports clubs Naomh Colmcille GAA and Donacarney Celtic Football club so a large part of my time when I am not working or studying is spent ferrying them to training or matches.

Now you know a little more about us, we’d like to hear about you.

If you and your team have a dream that could make a difference in your community, we’re here to listen. Whether you want to change something by solving a problem or creating an opportunity, we want to hear what you have to say.