A Further 1.5 Million Euro In Reconciliation Funding Announced

In the week which Stormont saw the appointment of a devolved Minister for Justice, completing a key commitment from the Good Friday Agreement, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Micheál Martin T.D., has announced that 43 groups would receive €1.46 million in funding to underpin reconciliation initiatives.

"Now more than ever we are committed to honouring the provisions in the Good Friday Agreement to provide financial assistance for the work of reconciliation," the Minister said. 

Reaffirming the Government's support, Minister Martin said that "despite the fact that these are more difficult times economically than we have experienced in recent years, the Government's commitment to reconciliation on the island of Ireland remains steadfast". 

The Minister stated that there would be no decrease in the availability of funding in 2010 for groups involved in cross-community and cross-border outreach and reconciliation work across the island of Ireland.

"While we have seen extraordinary progress in the situation in Northern Ireland, there is much left to be done.  A small number of individuals, intent on chaos and criminality, still wish to pull Northern Ireland back to the days of violence and despair," the Minister said.   

"The people have stood together and answered this challenge, indicating clearly that there is no going back," he emphasized.

The Minister also said that "sectarianism remains a real challenge to future stability in the north which needs to be confronted by the wider community, it cannot be permitted to continue to blight the progress we have made," the Minister urged. 

The Minister noted that the last decade has seen a transformation in the geographic and physical landscape of the island with the dismantling of security apparatus, rebuilding of roads and bridges and the increase in cross-border travel. 

He underlined the need, however, to continue to invest in the rebuilding of relationships which have been damaged by the troubles emphasising that "the next decade will see the continuation of the difficult work of building a fully normalised and shared society in Northern Ireland, and a valuable contribution to this process can be made through my Department's Reconciliation and Anti Sectarianism Funds as well as deepening and strengthening the relationship between North and South." 

The Minister committed the Anti Sectarianism and Reconciliation Funds to continuing to look for opportunities to reach out and support reconciliation initiatives and develop relationships concluding that "no community should be left behind on this journey". 

Some of the projects approved for funding by the Minister include:

€37,500 from the Anti-Sectarianism Fund for "The 1825 Project" based in Brownlow, near Craigavon.  This is a community based training organization based in Craigavon which designs and delivers community relations and community development programs on a cross border and cross community basis. This allocation of funding will go towards the Pathway to Leadership project, a training project for young people from West Cavan and Craigavon Borough.

€100,000 from the Reconciliation Fund for Business in the Community.  Business in the Community aims to create positive change in deprived communities across the North. Through this program they develop capacity among local groups, encourage leadership, and support communities to find their own solutions to issues of sectarianism and racism.

€425,000 from the Reconciliation Fund for Cooperation Ireland.  Co-operation Ireland is a non-sectarian, non-political, registered charity established in 1979 as a response to the conflict in the North.  Its aim is to build peace by advancing mutual understanding and respect by promoting practical co-operation between all the people of Ireland and between the different communities in the North. This funding is awarded as a contribution to support new and existing programs.

€270,000 from the Reconciliation Fund for the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.  Glencree is a non-profit, non-governmental organization devoted to peace building and reconciliation in Ireland, North and South, Britain and beyond. Funding is awarded towards the Center's program work, building peace, fostering reconciliation by facilitating dialogues and creating peace education resources.

€9,500 from the Anti-Sectarianism Fund for Greater Village Regeneration Trust based in South Belfast.  Much tension continues to manifest itself along the Village area's interface with West Belfast. This funding is awarded to support youth intervention work with particular attention on those living along the interface.  The program will deal with political, cultural and ethnic diversity, and challenge young people in their prejudices and expose them to new information and thinking.

€10,000 from the Anti-Sectarianism Fund for INTERCOMM based in North Belfast.  INTERCOMM seek to forge collaborative and productive working relationships within all communities and constituencies.  This project will seek to deepen relations between former combatants and ex-prisoner communities in the New Lodge and Tiger's Bay areas of North Belfast.

€25,000 from the Anti-Sectarianism Fund for Irish Peace Institute.  The Institute seeks to promote peace through training and grass roots capacity building. Funding is awarded for their Linking Cities II project, a Coleraine/Limerick youth exchange project successfully piloted in 2009, expanding it into a more detailed and targeted peace building and reconciliation program.

€9,500 from the Reconciliation Fund for Kids own Publishing Partnership Ltd.  Funding is approved towards The Travelling Library - a mobile installation, housing books made by children for children that will travel to six libraries, north and south of the border. During its installation for a month in each library, Kids Own will deliver book making workshops, by an artist and a writer, to children on the theme of 'All Equal, All Different'.