Falcarragh’s Cill Ulta hopes to get back on its feet after €50k Storm Éowyn damage

A west Donegal community social enterprise is still reeling after €50,000 damage was caused by Storm Éowyn’s gale-force winds.

The storm ravaged Cill Ulta, on the outskirts of Falcarragh, leaving workers here devastated. 

Mairead Nic an Iomaire, the Research, Innovation and Development Officer at Cill Ulta, who employs 15 people, said the destruction was significant. 

“There were around 100 panes of glass from the roof of the glasshouses broken,” she said. “We also had nine research polytunnels. There are now only three left.”

However, the group does not have insurance for the glasshouses or tunnels, as it is difficult to obtain. They are waiting to hear back from potential financial aid to help with the recovery. 

“We are waiting to hear back from a few resources,” Ms Nic an Iomaire, added. “We were in touch with Údarás na Gaeltachta and the Donegal County Council. We are also not sure yet if we qualify for the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme,” 

 The damage will be a knockback for the local enterprise as the fundamental work done here could be disrupted by a few months. 

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 “Depending on how we tackle this problem and if we get funding to fix what was damaged, it will definitely set us back, it already has, even getting the damage cleaned up has taken weeks to sort out,” she said.

Cill Ulta is a centre for sustainable food, energy, research and Irish language preservation. They have been involved in several important initiatives on sustainability, including collaborating with UCD on agricultural research and have led two successful European Innovation Partnership projects. 

The group also supplies sustainable food produce to local businesses and, donate food to over 100 homes through the Cloughaneely foodbank. 

Ms Nic an Iomaire expressed that although there was an unfortunate amount of damage done, they were grateful that the storm did not hit during peak growing season. 

 “There might have been the end trials of potatoes growing through the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund project we were doing with Enterprise Ireland,” she added. “But as I said that was coming to an end. So, I suppose we were lucky in a sense that it hit when it did. It could have been a lot worse - we could have had a lot more food waste because of it.”