MINISTER FOR Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin yesterday announced grants totalling €780,000 from the Department of Foreign Affairs’ reconciliation fund.
The grants are being made to 27 groups involved in a range of cross-community and cross-Border outreach and reconciliation work.
Mr Martin said: “The ongoing work of community-based groups plays an important role in developing capacity for people on the ground to participate in the progress that has been made in the peace process in recent years.”
“This is particularly true of organisations that directly involve young people, such as Northern Ireland Children’s Enterprise and the Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation. These groups are giving young people the necessary skills to engage in reconciliation, while simultaneously developing links between communities across these islands.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs set up the fund in 1982. Since 1999, it has awarded grants exceeding €24 million to more than 700 groups. The grants announced yesterday are the second tranche of total funding amounting to €3 million in 2008.
