Ryder Cup launches €20,000 grants fund for Limerick community projects

Local organisations can apply for grants across community, education, environment, disability and regeneration projects in Limerick

Limerick organisations can apply for €20,000 Ryder Cup legacy grants. File picture: Eamon Ward

Ryder Cup Europe will allocate grants in support of “long-term benefits” for local communities in Limerick.

Through its Local Impact & Legacy Fund for 2027, the Ryder Cup will allocate funding to local organisations and projects that will leave a positive impact on the local community around Adare Manor and across Limerick.

Local organisations and projects can apply for grants of up to €20,000.

To be eligible, applicants must be working to deliver a positive impact in Limerick City and County across one or more of five areas: community, skills and education, environment, disability and regeneration.

These areas have been chosen to align with the 2023-2028 Local Economic and Community Plan for Limerick City and County, and the Ryder Cup’s Beyond the Fairway programme, which works to leave a positive legacy in the communities that host golf’s greatest team contest.

Grants of up to €20,000

A steering committee has been created to review applications, comprising representatives from the European Tour Group and Limerick City and County Council, as well as Limerick Senior Hurling Team manager John Kiely.

Applications are now open and can be made by completing the application form on the official Ryder Cup website. Applications will close on January 29, 2027, with successful applicants to be informed by April 30, 2027.

Chief Ryder Cup Officer at the European Tour Group, Richard Atkinson, said the Ryder Cup would be the biggest sporting event staged on the island of Ireland and that organisers wanted it to deliver benefits beyond golf.

He said the new fund would allow locally rooted organisations and individuals to build on work already being carried out to improve the region as a place to live and work.

“We’re excited to see this launch, and to engage with local stakeholders to encourage a wide pool of applications,” he said.

Sport minister Patrick O’Donovan said major international sporting events could help increase participation in sport and physical activity.

He said creating a lasting legacy from such events was a Government priority and that the fund would allow community projects around Limerick to benefit from Ireland hosting the Ryder Cup for years to come.

‘A once-in-a-generation opportunity’

John Moran, Mayor of Limerick, said the 2027 Ryder Cup represented an opportunity to create a lasting legacy for Limerick, the Mid-West and Ireland.

He said the fund would help local communities, organisations and projects share in the benefits of hosting one of the world’s major sporting events, with an impact extending beyond the tournament itself.

“The 2027 Ryder Cup is about far more than six days of golf. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a lasting legacy for Limerick, the Mid-West and Ireland,” he said.

According to Ryder Cup Europe, the new Impact & Legacy Fund will be one of many initiatives to “give back to the local community”.