Department of Rural and Community Development
COVID-19 Emergency Fund
Guidelines
Please read the following
guidelines carefully before completing the application form.
Download the application form here
1. Introduction
The COVID-19 Emergency Fund is a grant programme to provide
funding to groups that are directly involved in the Community Call response to
the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is funded by
the Department of Rural and Community Development (the Department) and administered by the Local Authority (LA) in each area.
The Department provides funding to each LA area and the LAs then
administer this funding locally to ensure funding is targeted appropriately.
The
funding being made available for this measure has been allocated for
exceptional, once-off costs incurred by community and voluntary groups
associated with the Community Call initiative.
It is intended that the majority of the
funding that is allocated to each LA area will be ring-fenced for grants of
€1,000 or less.
Applications can be made (by groups directly involved
in the Community Call response) to the relevant LA.
2. Who is eligible to apply?
Groups that are
directly involved in the Community Call response to the COVID-19 pandemic can
apply.
Commercial organisations and individuals are not
eligible for funding.
3. What is eligible for funding?
The funding covers exceptional, once-off costs incurred by community and voluntary
groups associated with the Community Call initiative
4. Requirements of the Programme
The following conditions apply
to all projects. Depending on the nature of your project (and the group
applying), there may be further requirements that must be met. The LA will
discuss this with you, if your application is successful.
Tax
Requirements
§ The applicant
group/organisation does not have to be registered for tax purposes.
§ Any applicant
group/organisation that is registered for tax purposes must be tax
compliant. In line with revised tax
clearance procedures, which came into effect in January 2016, the Tax Clearance
Access Number and Tax Reference number must be submitted for verification
purposes.
Statutory
Consents - Applicants must
ensure that all necessary statutory permissions or consents have been obtained
before any works commence, in cases where this is required. This includes but is not confined to planning
permission.
Insurance
- Written evidence of a
valid insurance policy may be requested by the LA, where relevant, during the
applications review process.
Acknowledgment
of funding – The Department
should be acknowledged where possible.
Match-funding - this is not a requirement under this
programme.
5. Selection Criteria
Applications will
be evaluated by the Local Authority to ensure eligibility. Projects must be in keeping with the ethos of
the programme,
which is to provide funding to groups that are directly
involved in the Community Call response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Local
Authority will give priority to organisations which deliver frontline services.
Applications may be judged having regard to
how they help in the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Projects may also be judged having regard to
additional criteria deemed appropriate by the Local Authority which demonstrate
the added value of the project or element of a project in suitably addressing the programme's aims in each LA
administrative area.
6. Corporate
Governance
6a. Monitoring:
Grantees will be
required to comply with the highest standard of transparency and accountability
as documented in Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 13/2014 -
Management of and Accountability for Grants from Exchequer Funds http://circulars.gov.ie/pdf/circular/per/2014/13.pdf
The overall principle is that there should be
transparency and accountability in the management of public funds, in line with
economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The circular outlines, for example, that
grant recipients should not dispose of publically funded assets without prior
approval.
6b. The Code of Governance for Community and
Voluntary organisations
The Department is encouraging funded bodies
to adopt the Governance Code, a Code of Practice for Good Governance of
Community, Voluntary and Charitable Organisations, which will assist in
achieving excellence in all areas of your work.
The Governance Code asks organisations to agree to operate to key
principles in order to run their organisation more effectively in areas such as
leadership, transparency and accountability and behaving with integrity. Further information on the Code is available
at www.governancecode.ie
7. Approval Procedures
All applications for funding under this programme received will be reviewed and assessed by Sligo
County Council.
In deciding
the final allocations of funding to projects, the LA may take account of a
number of factors including geographical balance and the desirability to fund a
variety of different projects. The Local Authority will give priority to
organisations which deliver frontline services.
Following the
decision each approved project, subject to the completion of legal formalities
and other requirements, will receive an offer in principle of grant-aid. This will be subject to compliance with the
relevant conditions and subject to the satisfactory acceptance by the applicant
of that offer.
The right is
reserved to reassign the funds offered to another approved project if all
requirements are not met within a reasonable period.
The
Department and/or the LA reserve the right to carry out an audit of expenditure
or conduct inspections from time to time.
Please Note:
Requests
for assistance usually exceed the funds available and it is important
therefore that the process of evaluation is rigorous. The purpose of this process is to ensure
that the best projects, taking all factors into account, emerge and receive
support. It is Departmental policy to
ensure that every application is treated fairly and impartially.
Offers
of funding may be for a lesser amount than that sought by the applicant. Applicants should be aware that the Programme
may be oversubscribed. Therefore, in
such circumstances, all applications fulfilling the conditions may not be
successful or may be for a lesser amount.
The
LA in evaluating proposals received may seek advice and consult with other
agencies, and may disclose information on projects under consideration to
those experts and agencies.
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8. General
The
information provided in this document is intended to give applicants an
understanding of the process by which applications for funding are assessed and
approved and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.
Freedom of Information Act 2014
Under the
Freedom of Information Act 2014, details contained in applications and
supporting documents may, on request, be released to third parties. If there is
information contained in your application which is sensitive or confidential in
nature, please identify it and provide an explanation as to why it should not
be disclosed. If a request to release sensitive information under the
legislation is received, you will be consulted before a decision is made
whether or not to release the information. However, in the absence of the
identification of particular information as sensitive, it could be disclosed
without any consultation with you.
Site Visits
The
Department or LA may carry out unannounced site visits to verify compliance
with Programme
terms and conditions.
Further
information may be requested
The LA reserves
the right to request further information from you in order to assess your
application if so required.
Usage
of information
The
information provided on the form will be utilised for the purposes of
evaluating and administering the grant process, and to facilities audits and
any site visits. When evaluating the applications received the LA may seek
advice and consult with other agencies, and may disclose information on projects
under consideration to those experts and agencies.
Other
§
Under
the programme it is intended that the majority of the funding that is allocated
to each LA area will be ring-fenced for grants of €1,000 or less.
§ Applicant
groups shall self-certify that they do not have the funding to undertake the
work, without the grant aid, or alternatively that with the grant they will now
undertake more work which they otherwise would not be able to
afford.
§
If
the funding application is for one element of a project, applicants will be
required to provide documentary evidence of the availability of the balance of
funding for that particular element of that project.
§
There
is no limit on the number of applications for different projects from any
organisation. However, applicants should be aware that an equity/fairness
approach will be taken by the LA to ensure an even distribution of funding.
§ The
Programme is 100% exchequer funded. Applicants are free to leverage other
funding/match funding for projects (e.g. with
LEADER, Tidy Towns, Town and Village Enhancement funding, etc.) although
that is not a requirement of this new programme.
§ It
is the responsibility of the administrators of/body responsible for any other
funding scheme or programme to ensure that using this Programme to co-fund a
project does not contradict the rules of that other scheme/programme.
§ VAT will only be paid where
it is included in the application amount.
No further requests for VAT payments or repayments will be accepted.
9. How to apply
Application
Form
The
application form is detailed and is designed to ensure that it has the
necessary information to evaluate each proposal accurately and fairly.
Please
ensure that you complete the COVID 19 Emergency Fund application form in full
and that any documentation in support of your application is submitted with
your application.
Only projects that meet the criteria outlined above will be considered
eligible.
Submission of false or misleading information at
any stage is treated very seriously. Any
organisation that does not comply with the terms and conditions of the Programme may be subject to inspection, have their grant
withdrawn, be required to repay all or part of a grant and/or be barred from
making applications for a period of time. All serious breaches of the terms and
conditions of the Programme will be notified to An Garda Síochána.
Applications should be forwarded to:
Sligo County Council via email to
Jude Mannion at jmannion@sligococo.ie by 5pm Tuesday 5th May 2020.
For any queries please email: jmannion@sligococo.ie