Mayo | CONNECTED

Mulranny: Use what’s in your community to develop it sustainably

Best Practices, Governance and Leadership, Mayo, Social Entrepreneurship

Maeve interviews Carol Loftus, of the Sustainable Energy Community in Mulranny, Mayo. The discussion highlights the journey of Mulranny from a fading tourist spot to a thriving model of community-driven sustainable development. Carol outlines how projects emerged, how local people were mobilised, how outside expertise and funding were drawn in, and how sustainability has been woven into tourism, energy, and heritage initiatives.

From Small Wins to a Community Energy Pipeline: GreenPlan Mulranny (Case Study)

Building Energy Use, Case Studies, Committee Tools, Community Energy, Engagement and Communication, Home Energy, Mayo

GreenPlan Mulranny turned a volunteer-run tourist office into a public “green hub” for the whole village—swapping bulbs, cutting bills, refilling water bottles, charging e-bikes from solar, and showing live energy on a screen. Those visible, low-cost actions grew into a community energy pipeline (Sustainable Energy Community → Energy Master Plan → Building Energy Ratings → Retrofits) and helped set the stage for Mulranny’s Decarbonising Zone.

Mulranny 2030: From Climate Action Hub to UNESCO Biosphere (Case Study)

Biodiversity, Case Studies, Engagement and Communication, Mayo

Once a pass-through village on the Wild Atlantic Way, Mulranny has reinvented itself as a hub for climate action and participatory governance. Building on its Decarbonising Zone plan and a decade of community-led innovation, the village is now aiming for its boldest move yet: joining UNESCO’s global network of Biosphere Reserves.

Mulranny Community Futures & Promenade (Case Study)

Case Studies, Committee Tools, Engagement and Communication, Environmental and Sustainability Initiatives, In Ireland Travel, Mayo

A Scottish-style, household-led consultation gave Mulranny a clear, shared brief: footpaths, safer crossings, and a seafront civic space. With a Village Design Statement (2012) to turn that mandate into drawings, the community and council delivered continuous footpaths, traffic calming, and the Mulranny Promenade—even during austerity—shifting the N59 corridor from car-dominated to people-first and setting the stage for later climate actions.