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The County Monaghan pilot

How a rural Ulster county turned low awareness of the circular economy into a 2026–2030 action plan with two hubs.

What three interventions does the County Monaghan Regional Action Plan set out, and how far has each got?

A Regional Circular Economy Hub, circular waste-to-resource systems, and a community energy transition. The circular-economy hub is proposed; the Community Energy Engagement Hub has moved furthest, into follow-on projects such as a community hydro initiative in Inniskeen.

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County Monaghan, Ireland: a circular-economy plan for a border county

main tellingexample world: irelanddepth: standard3 min markdown

County Monaghan is a predominantly rural border county in Ulster, with dispersed settlements, a strong agri-food sector and close ties to Northern Ireland. The 2016 census counted 61,386 residents, only 37 % of them living in urban areas.

Drumlin farmland in County Monaghan

Drumlin farmland in County Monaghan. Photo: PoliRuralPlus pilot materials (RP1), poliruralplus.eu

TerritoryCounty Monaghan (Border Region, Ulster)
PartnersMonaghan Integrated Development, MID (lead); MAC, National Microelectronics Applications Centre (technical support)
ThemeCircular economy and community energy
RAP“Circular Economy in Co. Monaghan”, roadmap 2026–2030
Open callOutreach: circular-economy scoping study (MCA Consulting)

From green economy to circular economy

In 2024 stakeholders weighed three themes (green-economy entrepreneurship, sustainable tourism, dairy innovation) and chose the green economy (D5.1). The work then narrowed to the circular economy. The barriers the pilot names are low awareness, weak collaboration between businesses, communities and public bodies, fragmented finance (LEADER, SEAI and ERDF funding run in silos), skills gaps, youth outmigration, and too little anaerobic-digestion and composting capacity for the agri-food sector’s organic residues.

What the plan sets out

The RAP has three interventions:

  1. a Regional Circular Economy Hub, a focal point for SMEs, farmers, community groups, public bodies and education partners, offering training, mentoring, access to funding, and repair and reuse activities;
  2. circular waste-to-resource systems;
  3. a community energy transition, carried by a Community Energy Engagement Hub developed with the county’s Sustainable Energy Community network.

The policy brief (June 2025) scales this up nationally: a network of Circular Economy Innovation Hubs starting with a flagship in Monaghan, a refundable 20 % R&D tax credit for certified circular products, capital grants for on-farm anaerobic digestion and biochar, a national waste-mapping portal, and more LEADER funding for circular pilots. The brief states that the RAP’s findings point to at least 30 % waste reduction and about 250 green jobs from this policy mix.

Where things stand

The scoping study, funded through the Outreach open call, is complete. Its ideas workshop, run with Monaghan County Council, fed directly into the RAP. The Circular Economy Hub is proposed, with MID, the County Council and LEO Monaghan as the basis for keeping it going after the project. The energy hub has moved furthest: follow-on work includes “Harnessing Hydro Power for Our Community” with Inniskeen Enterprise Development Group. The pilot’s Rural Circular Economy Funding Business Model is listed on the EU Innovation Radar. D7.4 suggests overlaying local datasets (CSO statistics, county development plans) in JackDaw; that is a suggestion, not a reported result.

Monaghan shows the pattern most pilots share: build the evidence, then propose a hub to hold the coalition together.

Related

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