Annual Report 2017

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Overview

Strategy Review

Governance

Corporate Responsibility
2: Delivering economic and social benefit to the communities we serve

Bord na Móna has always been highly aware of the economic and social benefit we can bring to the many local communities we operate in starting as early as the 1950s when we would build homes for our workers. This community spirit and support continues to this day in a number of different ways whether it’s through our involvement with local GAA clubs, providing rooms to Men’s Shed groups or the provision of a skip for a town tidy up.

At Bord na Móna it’s important to us that we are at the very heart of community endeavours no matter how big or small and that the impact of our support is not only social but also provides a number of economic advantages which will sustain these communities for the future.

Key objectives

Regularly engage in and participate in local donation and fundraising activities

Ensure that our efforts generate both a short and long term impact

Commit to a continued presence in the Midlands where we currently employ over 2,200 of our workforce – a region which has experienced a lack of investment in the past

Focus on the economic benefits that our programmes and initiatives can bring e.g.

Helping to improve the overall skills of a local workforce

Sustained quality employment

Financially supporting worthy causes in our communities

Creation of financial stability; within the company and the local community

Dividend payments returned to the shareholders

 

 

The Community Gains Fund

Key projects

The Community Gains Fund

Bord na Móna set up two community gains schemes in 2014 thanks to the help and cooperation of the communities local to its Mountlucas and Bruckana Wind Farms.

A fund, based on the installed capacity of each wind farm, was established and applications are sought annually. The combined funds amount to €125,000 per annum.

Bord na Móna administers each scheme and an awards committee - drawn from business and representatives from the local community- decide every year which projects are granted financial support. To date funding has benefited schools, sports clubs, general amenity, social initiatives and a number of community facilities.

The Lough Boora Fairy Party

Bord na Móna and The Irish Fairy Door Company celebrated - for the fifth year running - the Lough Boora Fairy Party in Lough Boora Discovery Park. Last year marked the fourth year of our partnership with Barretstown children’s charity who received all proceeds from the party, amounting to €15,000.

 

 

AES Bord na Móna Charity Contribution

AES Bord na Móna Charity Contribution

In 2016, AES Bord na Móna raised €78,000 through an online customer payment initiative with 1% of all online payments over €20 donated.

Monies raised were divided equally between Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin and Temple Street Children’s University Hospital and helped fund the following:

  • Urodynamics testing room for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital - a vital room within the Renal Outpatients Unit with specialised bath and en-suite facilities for the exclusive use by patients with kidney problems.
  • Upgrade of the Outpatients Department for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. Over 80,000 children visit the Outpatients Department each year and the facilities were not designed to sustain the kind of traffic that it now has to deal with on a daily basis.

Support for these hospitals will continue throughout 2017.

 

 

Eco Rangers

The Eco Rangers programme is an initiative to bring children back to nature and is aimed specifically at primary school classes. Pupils are encouraged to embark on Eco Safaris where they map out nature trails in their locality, look at the flora and fauna, take photos or draw pictures, document what they see and creatively connect with nature.

The programme supports the national school curriculum and can be used by schools in both urban and rural locations. Teachers are provided with all the tools they need to get out of the classroom in a planned and structured approach and are supported with teachers’ packs, lesson plans and games.

Currently over 200 schools are involved and over 20,000 pupils have taken part to date. The Eco Rangers programme highlights our important role of guardians of the land.

Eco Rangers