THRIVE is a new funding scheme under Ireland’s two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regional Programmes to provide €120 million to support local authorities and their citizens to re-imagine town centres and to transform publicly owned vacant or derelict heritage buildings within those town centres through renovation, renewal, and adaptive reuse.
THRIVE – the Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme – was launched by Minister of State for Local Government and Planning Kieran O’Donnell on 8 February 2024. The scheme has been co-designed by the Regional Assemblies and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address European, national and regional policy objectives. THRIVE is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union.
THRIVE is targeted at larger urban settlements – cities, regional growth centres and key towns – and is designed to complement other national funds targeting smaller urban settlements. It is a competitive funding call and with 100% grant aid available, is expected to be highly competitive.
Monaghan Town is the only settlement in County Monaghan that qualifies for this funding and secured, in May 2024, €199,341 from the ERDF Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027 under strand 1 THRIVE funding. This significant funding supported the development of a Town Plan for Monaghan Town, carry out citizen engagement, and identify and develop proposals for The St Louis lands and buildings .
Click here to read more about Town Centre First Monaghan >>
For more information please visit: https://www.nwra.ie/thrive/
Application for Strand 2 THRIVE funding = St Louis Chapel, Monaghan
Following the work carried out in relation to the Town Centre First Plan Monaghan and the Options paper for the St Louis Lands and Buildings an application has been made under Strand 2 THRIVE funding for the re- adaptation of St Louis Chapel, on the St Louis Lands, Monaghan (May 2025).
The application is to sensitively transform the currently vacant St Louis Chapel building into a community hub with exhibition spaces, performance space, meeting rooms, toilets including Changing Places facility, and a café. In addition, the proposal incorporates the development of a public realm space that links the lands and building with the town centre. A key element of this is the removal of the boundary wall between the convent grounds and the car park to visually open up this area.
Incorporated into the proposal is a Living Lab, a community model whereby people are brought together to meet and engage, develop ideas and address the challenges pertinent to County Monaghan,
Images of the proposal are outlined below.
Full details of the planning application are available at the following link.
https://planning.localgov.ie/en/part-8/application/97d11b20-0410-11f0-a5c4-2147541e25cf
It is anticipated that a decision in respect of the grant application will be made in September 2025.