Fifty-nine projects in Ireland and Britain have been selected to share in £1.2 million of grant-aid, most of it coming from a trust set up in 1922 to provide houses for Irish soldiers and sailors.
The projects, selected for their promotion of co-operation between Ireland and Britain, span such areas as reconciliation, welfare of the Irish community in Britain, Irish studies research, heritage and culture.
The grants were announced by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and include £185,000 for North-South bodies and £197,500 for east-west bodies. A total of £386,000 goes to the island of Ireland, while £436,410 was given to Irish communities in Britain.
The money is a result of the Irish Sailors' and Soldiers' Land Trust (ISSLT), established under a British act of parliament to provide houses for ex-servicemen who had fought with the British armed forces in the first World War.
The number of beneficiaries in the Republic and Northern Ireland had declined significantly by the 1980s and the trust was left with surplus funds. In 1986 it was agreed to split the money between the British and Irish governments. The first tranche of funds was distributed between 1988 and 1992, when £2.6 million was allocated among such organisations as the RNLI and the Shannon-Erne Waterway.
Additionally, allocations of £343,762 have already been made. These include £150,000 for the Irish Peace Park at Flanders, £180,000 to the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool and £13,762 towards the Irish Peace Bell at Messines, also in Flanders.
The new allocations announced yesterday included a top-up from the Government of £53,200 and covered, among others: £2,000 to the CARA Housing Association to finance a team for three years to assist Irish homeless in Britain; £71,000 for the London Irish Centre in Camden; £71,000 for Scouting Ireland; £60,000 for Armagh Observatory; £50,000 for Irish Community Care Manchester; £50,000 to the Family Welfare Association, London and Southern England; £50,000 towards the cost of the Peace Park and Tower at Messines, Flanders; £50,000 to the UCD Department of Folklore; £38,000 to Rehab Care, Coventry; and £35,000 to the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Co Wicklow.
Priority was given to east-west projects, considering the availability to North-South bodies of the International Fund for Ireland, Interreg funds and the EU Special Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.
The Taoiseach said the evaluation process was not easy, with applications amounting to over £16 million. He paid tribute to the late Lord Killanin who, as the Republic's representative on the ISSLT, alerted the governments to the availability of surplus funds.
