Twelve months ago the power stations in Lanesboro, Co Longford and Shannonbridge, Co Offaly were taken down from the National Grid.
It was a huge blow for the Bord na Móna and ESB workers as well as the communities they lived and worked in.
The Just Transition Fund was set up with the aim of helping the workers and communities impacted. One year on and is this funding feeding through?
"It's given us a lot of money for feasibility studies but they're only dust collectors unless you can get something done with them," explains Joe O'Brien, who runs the local newsagents and who is also on the local collaboration group.
His frustration is palpable as he explains how difficult and time-consuming the grant application process is.
"Everyone that is in the collaboration group is working, it is hard. Lanesboro should be seen as a jobs hubs and to me there should be a strategist to deal with all the feasibility studies, because we're getting no support and that’s the sad thing about it," he said.
At Lough Ree Distillery, they are busy making Christmas hampers for local and corporate customers. They are hoping to benefit from Just Transition Funds, which will be help them grow and expand the business.
"We hope that we're going to triple our business in the next two years and really the Just Transition Funding allocation is going to be the enabler to that, to build out a bigger distillery site and get that moving," explains Peter Clancy, one of the founders of Lough Ree Distillery.
"Over the course of the next half decade, that five people we have employed will drive on to ten, 15, 20 people and also add a tourism benefit to this region," he added.
On the shores of Lough Ree, straddling Lanesboro and Ballyleague, the Lough Ree Access for All boat has proven a huge success.
The boat is designed to allow easy access for wheelchair users, people with disability and special needs to access the waterways of Ireland, but the service is open to all visitors to the area.
"It was six years in the making but we eventually got this boat behind us. Over 1,300 people with disabilities from around 20 counties have come so far," explains Liam Finnegan, who is a volunteer with the project.
While the funding for the boat did not come from Just Transition, the group explains that a new visitor centre will be built, from Just Transition Funding.
"We will have a lovely new centre and that will really help boost the project. Just Transition has been vital for this really and we're hoping to get a second vessel too. It's been a game-changer really," explains Mr Finnegan.
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The Premier Lakelands Food Hub project was the brainchild of local chef Stephen Dowd who set up the hub enterprise with fellow directors Marie Farrell and Michael Casserley. They have worked on the project for over two years. He’s hoping Just Transition Funds will allow the project be realised.
"Lanesboro didn't benefit from the Celtic Tiger and the power station kept the place going. When it went, it was a wake-up call," he explained.
The project proposed involves the development of a state-of-the-art food hub on a site just outside of Lanesboro, which will provide significant processing space as well as incubation space for micro scale food producers.
"This is a good news story. We’re looking for an anchor tenant but we're ready to proceed and the final piece of Just Transition Funding has been finalised," he said.
Of course there is a lot of hope for the region and as Just Transition Commissioner Kieran Mulvey explains, there is huge potential in the region.
A Roscommon native, he says he has a strong commitment to the midlands. He is familiar with bogs and bogland communities and, over the last two years, he has had strong engagement with Bord na Móna, the ESB, the local authorities, the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Government departments.
He has heard the views of people and organisations about the funding application process which he described as "tortuous" for many.
"Trying to get the projects through to the approval stage, has been a rather elongated process, let's put it that way," said Mr Mulvey.
He believes the "great enterprise culture" in the midlands region will help sustain it into the future and it will become the renewable energy hub of Ireland.
"This is epitomised by the number of local entrepreneurs over the years who have built great and successful businesses. They were first into battery renewables and there is a very exciting development in Red Leaf Farm, Co Offaly," he said.
Mr Mulvey has huge confidence in the region and said while his term at Just Transition Commissioner comes to an end in a few weeks, he said he is willing to continue, if required to do so.
"I feel I've brought it as far as I can in terms of the remit I was given but there's bits and pieces of unfinished business and you'd like to tidy these things up, you don't like leaving a vacuum around it," he said.
"I've got to know a lot of people involved in this and if I'm required to serve for a bit longer, I'd like to see it completed," he added.
He said the true value of living in this region has been helped by Covid, with many people returning to the region to live and work.
On the power stations that still stand in Shannonbridge and Lanesboro, Mr Mulvey said these historical buildings are in pristine condition and should not be demolished.
"There will be a record kept both before and after the closure of the stations," he said.
"Hopefully, there will be an attraction centre where students can come and learn about how we challenged the energy climate, the impact it had on the community and how we tried to alleviate that."
