Recent government funding allocated to Dublin City Council’s Decarbonising Zones (DZs) won’t actually fund direct carbon reduction.
Representatives on the Climate Action and Urban Resilience SPC were perplexed yesterday when briefed about the ethos behind the ‘Decarbonising Zone Demonstrator Fund’. This has provided the council with €70,500 to advance objectives in the two DZs: Ballymun and Ringsend/Poolbeg.
Senior Executive Engineer Darby Mullen stated they have ambitious goals for the areas, which were chosen in 2022 as spaces where they have a “mandate to take risks, innovate and develop demonstrator projects” that can highlight ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 51% before 2030. He said they were hoping for funds in the “hundreds of millions” but were allocated just €70,500 last June to spend before the end of the year.
There was clear frustration among committee members that these funds would be insufficient to achieve their goals. This was compounded by the fact that the funds explicitly forbid direct spend on staff costs, IT infrastructure, or third-party grants.
Instead, at least €8,000 must be spent on community engagement with a minimum of three events in 2026. Mr Mullen said they will have to “make the most use of the funding” and that this ‘pilot year’ could inform future funding down the line, which has not been announced, confirmed, or secured.
Mr Mullen explained the fund acts as a demonstration of “what can be achieved” and assists with bringing people together for workshops, talkshops, and events. He said in terms of reducing carbon emissions it is “not going to have a direct effect on it” and the limited funding means it "won’t provide very much" toward capital projects.
Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne described the Demonstrator Funding as simply “funding more talking” and that years of engagement with local communities and environmental groups in Ballymun and Ringsend/Poolbeg means “a lot of this heavy lifting has already been done”. “Am I right in this initial trench of funding that the only criteria for measurement of success is around engagement, there’s no criteria around actual carbon reduction impact?” she asked.
Mr Mullen confirmed that is correct and there is nothing about analysing how many tonnes of carbon emissions will be reduced in the briefings they have been provided. He explained the funding is to be used to “gain learnings” for future funding.
Dublin’s energy agency Codema is one group that have been actively involved in developing plans for the Decarbonising Zones. Under the remit of this funding, direct payments or subcontracts to them are not permissible, which Cllr Byrne pointed out only further limits the impact the funding can have.
Green Party Cllr Carolyn Moore echoed the frustrations of her party colleague and described the funding as “another round of talking”. She questioned whether the “branding of climate action” is taking precedence over “the actual delivery of climate action”. She highlighted the benefits of organising events, but said in many cases it is the same people who are attending repeatedly and that they are already engaged with climate activism.
Cllr Moore requested that if funding must go towards community engagement they should find a way to ensure there is “peer-to-peer” learning among climate conscious people from all over Dublin, not just the DZs. Mr Mullen said that although events will likely be held in either Ballymun or Ringsend/Poolbeg, everyone will be welcome to attend. He said they also hope to engage with schools.
When asked by Fine Gael Cllr Declan Flanagan what projects the council’s Climate Action Team have in mind for the funding, Mr Mullen said they "don’t have a definite list" and that they will be engaging with representatives, stakeholders, and the community on this. Projects that have already secured funding will also be ineligible as it would be considered “double-funding or duplicate funding”.
Mr Mullen said they must leverage the funding towards projects that will be beneficial as best as they can and, although it is “not a lot of money,” there is still a tight turnaround to have it allocated and approved before the end of the year. While he understood councillors’ frustrations, he said ultimately they must “judge success by the communities themselves saying it was a worthwhile use of €70,500”.
The DZ Demonstrator Fund has allocated €1.8m to local authorities around the country. It marks the first time there has been specific, ringfenced funding for DZs. Future funding will also be informed by an ESPON ITADZ study, due for completion at year end.
This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
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