Rural Pilot 1: County Monaghan (Ireland)
Rural district description
County Monaghan is a predominantly rural border county in Ireland's Ulster region, characterised by a dispersed settlement pattern, a strong agri-food sector, vibrant small and medium-sized enterprises, and active community organisations. The county has close social and economic links with neighbouring counties and Northern Ireland, providing opportunities for cross-border collaboration and innovation.
Building on these strengths, Monaghan was selected as the Irish PoliRuralPlus pilot to explore how circular economy principles can support sustainable enterprise, improve resource efficiency, reduce waste, and strengthen long-term economic, environmental and community resilience.
Challenge description
The pilot addresses several barriers to advancing the circular economy in County Monaghan, including low awareness of circular economy principles, limited collaboration between businesses, communities and public organisations, insufficient funding and investment for circular economy initiatives, and challenges in turning innovative ideas into practical projects. It also recognises skills gaps, limited digital adoption, youth outmigration, transport constraints and weak circular value chains as barriers to sustainable regional development.
A core challenge is to strengthen resource efficiency and reduce waste while creating resilient local enterprises and communities through a coordinated circular economy approach.
Anticipated result
The anticipated result is a coordinated regional approach to advancing the circular economy in County Monaghan through stronger collaboration between businesses, community organisations, public authorities and education providers. The Regional Action Plan provides a practical roadmap with clear interventions, actions and performance indicators to improve resource efficiency, reduce waste, strengthen circular business innovation and build local capacity.
A key outcome of the pilot is the proposed establishment of a Regional Circular Economy Hub and a Community Energy Engagement Hub, providing long-term structures to support collaboration, knowledge sharing, innovation, funding opportunities and the implementation of circular economy and community energy initiatives across the county.
Open Calls
Name of the project: Scoping Exercise to Identify Opportunities for Job Creation and Business Growth in the Circular Economy in County Monaghan, Ireland.
Lead organisation: MCA Consulting
The Irish pilot implemented one Open Call project. The Outreach call’s scoping exercise provided an evidence base to better understand the current state of the circular economy in County Monaghan and identify opportunities for job creation and business growth. The study also strengthened stakeholder engagement by expanding the regional network of businesses, community organisations, public bodies and other key actors.
As part of the project, MCA Consulting, Monaghan Integrated Development and Monaghan County Council jointly delivered a Circular Economy Idea Generation Workshop, the outcomes of which directly informed the development of the Regional Action Plan
Winning projects news
Promotional video
Policy brief
Results
1. Regional Action Plan: Circular Economy in Co. Monaghan:
The Regional Action Plan (RAP): Circular Economy in County Monaghan is the main strategic result of the Irish PoliRuralPlus pilot. It translates the evidence, stakeholder engagement and co-design work undertaken during the pilot into a practical 2026–2030 roadmap for advancing the circular and green economy in the county.
The RAP focuses on three integrated interventions: (1) establishment of a Regional Circular Economy Hub, (2) development of Circular Waste-to-Resource Systems, and (3) Community Energy Transition. It identifies priority actions, responsible actors, financing opportunities, indicators and pathways for long-term implementation. The plan is designed to strengthen collaboration between local authorities, enterprises, farmers, community organisations, education and research partners, and energy stakeholders.
The RAP builds on the Irish pilot's stakeholder engagement, circular economy scoping work, resource mapping and innovation activities and provides a framework for moving from awareness and evidence-building towards practical projects, investment and regional implementation.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BMKyosYtcY9oZ84IPxEsPhyvPwmoRAV2/view?usp=drive_link
2. EU Innovation Radar:Rural Circular Economy Funding Business Model:
The Rural Circular Economy Funding Business Model is an innovation developed through the Irish pilot to address one of the key barriers identified in County Monaghan: the difficulty faced by rural circular economy initiatives in accessing appropriate finance and moving from innovative ideas to implementation.
The model explores how existing public, private, community and European funding instruments can be better connected to support circular enterprises, community initiatives and waste-to-resource projects. It provides a practical approach for identifying funding pathways, developing investable projects and supporting the transition from circular economy concepts to pilots and scalable regional initiatives.
Its inclusion in the EU Innovation Radar demonstrates the wider innovation potential of the approach and provides a route for sharing the Monaghan experience beyond the pilot region.
https://innovation-radar.ec.europa.eu/innovator/898902493
3. Regional Circular Economy Hub:
The Regional Circular Economy Hub is a proposed long-term coordination and innovation structure emerging directly from the County Monaghan RAP. The Hub is designed to provide a focal point for SMEs, farmers, community organisations, public bodies and education and research partners to collaborate on circular economy opportunities.
The Hub will support circular economy awareness and training, mentoring, innovation, funding access, stakeholder networking, repair and reuse activities, and the development and scaling of circular business and waste-to-resource projects. It responds directly to the pilot's finding that stronger coordination, knowledge sharing, technical support and access to finance are needed to turn circular economy opportunities into practical projects.
The Hub concept has been developed through the pilot's stakeholder engagement and is positioned as a mechanism for sustaining the results of PoliRuralPlus beyond the project lifetime, with MID, Monaghan County Council, LEO Monaghan and technical and community partners providing the basis for continued regional collaboration.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EHjUPZqvL4sdFXB-JTTUyo1LzZMwT0qM/view?usp=drive_link
4. Community Energy Engagement Hub:
The Community Energy Engagement Hub is a practical outcome of the Irish pilot's Community Energy Transition intervention. Developed with the County Monaghan Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) Network and other regional stakeholders, the Hub concept provides a facilitation model for helping communities, households and SMEs navigate energy efficiency, retrofit, renewable energy and community energy opportunities.
The Hub is intended to connect communities with technical advice, funding opportunities, energy information and relevant public and private partners, while supporting the development of citizen-led renewable energy projects. It provides a local mechanism for turning community interest in the energy transition into investable and implementable projects.
The concept has already progressed towards implementation through follow-on project development and funding activity, including proposals for innovation and sustainability support and the development of the "Harnessing Hydro Power for Our Community" initiative with Inniskeen Enterprise Development Group. This demonstrates an emerging pathway from the PoliRuralPlus RAP to concrete community energy projects and longer-term regional energy resilience.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e2F-NnzpbHil1qMwEe9juJxerBiYf1i4/view?usp=drive_link
5. Circular Economy Scoping and Ideas Generation Study of Co. Monaghan, Ireland
A completed Circular Economy scoping and feasibility study for County Monaghan provided an evidence base on the regional circular economy baseline, key opportunities, and potential for business growth and job creation. As part of the study, a Circular Economy Ideas Generation Workshop was jointly delivered by MCA Consulting, Monaghan Integrated Development (MID) and Monaghan County Council (MCC), bringing stakeholders together to identify and explore practical circular economy opportunities. The findings and ideas generated through the study and workshop directly informed the development of the Regional Action Plan for Circular Economy in County Monaghan.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12DQlhTmvAtlrD3cTZiF95X6Bn32MHvkB/view?usp=drive_link
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