Minister Martin announces Reconciliation Fund grants totaling €780,000

Minister Martin announces Reconciliation Fund grants totaling €780,000

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Micheál Martin, T.D., today announced an allocation of grants totaling €780,000 from the Department of Foreign Affairs' Reconciliation Fund.  These grants are being made to 27 groups involved in a wide range of cross-community and cross-border outreach and reconciliation work.

Announcing the grants, Minister Martin stressed:

“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”.

Northern Ireland’s Children Enterprise is a community relations organization based in Belfast that aims to promote reconciliation, good relations and tolerance. I am happy to announce funding for this organisation’s programme entitled ‘Citizenship in a Divided Society’. The programme will run in many schools in Northern Ireland over 11 weeks, and will encourage students to consider such issues as identity, diversity, stereotypes, prejudice and conflict management.

The Reconciliation Fund will also support the Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation’s three-year Tim Parry Leadership Development Programme. Aimed at developing the leadership skills of young Irish and British people, this programme aims to enable them to play proactive peace and reconciliation roles within and between their respective communities. The programme will take place on the island of Ireland and at the Warrington Peace Centre, and will bring together students aged 15-17 years from each of these locations.

“Ensuring that young people are given the opportunity to actively take part in reconciliation within and between communities is vital in building a better future for relations throughout these islands.”

Note for Editors:

The Reconciliation Fund was established in the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1982 and provides assistance to organisations involved in reconciliation work in order to help create a better understanding between people on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain.  Since 1999, the Department of Foreign Affairs has awarded grants of over €24 million to over 700 groups involved in a wide range of cross-community and cross-border reconciliation activities. The grants announced today are the second tranche of total funding amounting to €3 million in 2008.

Details of the grants announced are attached below:

Artability (NI) Ltd, Belfast is a community organization, founded in 1989, aimed at improving social integration by providing art, music, education and play projects to people with disabilities from all communities of North and West Belfast. Allocation: €15,000

Arts Across Borders is engaging in a cross-border musical project between bands of different traditions. Currently, two bands are taking part – St. Catherine’s Marching Band, Killybegs and Howard Memorial Pipe Band, Tyrone. Their recent activities have included weekend stays and joint rehearsals, and they have been involved with the Festival of the Sea, Killybegs and initiatives to commemorate the Flight of the Earls. Allocation: €20,000

Ballynafeigh Community Development Association, Belfast is based in an area where Catholics and Protestants have lived alongside each other since before the conflict, this organization aims to take a creative approach to community development. Allocation: €20,000

Bush Old School House/ Ballymascanlon Union of Parishes, Co Louth aims to make a positive contribution to the development of the local community.  Moving on from the troubles it strives to create a space where good relations can be developed with neighbours regardless of religious differences. Allocation: €25,000

Caledon Playgroup, Co Tyrone is a cross-community playgroup, based in a rural area in Co. Tyrone, is bringing Catholic and Protestant children together in a summer sports programme that promotes health and fitness. Allocation: €1,000

Creggan Youth Drop-In, Derry -is a voluntary group that caters for up to 150 young people in the Creggan Estate in Derry. This allocation will enable the Centre to carry out a wide range of activities, including cross-community work with young people from Protestant Bond Street and Lincoln Courts. Allocation: 25,000

Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland, Co Louth was set up in 1995 shortly after the first cease-fire as a peace building initiative and is made up of 130 Catholic and Protestant 12-24 year olds from the border counties.  It is an accomplished orchestra which has played in distinguished forums and travelled internationally to perform.  The orchestra is also involved in a cross border orchestra project with the South Ulster Youth Orchestra. Allocation: €25,000

The David Ervine Foundation, Belfast has organised a programme called Education by Choice, which seeks to train and educate disadvantaged children from both of the main traditions in East Belfast, particularly those who have dropped out of mainstream education. Allocation: €25,000

East Ireland Open Bridge Congress, Co Louth provides bridge competitions for all levels, from novices to beginners, and which traverses denominational and cross-community differences. Allocation: €2,500

Families Acting for Innocent Relatives-FAIR, Co Armagh has developed a project entitled Border Encounter, which aims to improve understanding among people from North and South, to develop practical encounters between communities in Ireland and Britain, and to raise awareness of victims' issues. Allocation: €20,000

Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation, Co Wicklow is one of the largest organisations on the island of Ireland working towards peace building and the promotion of reconciliation. The Centre, through the delivery of its various programmes and summers schools, attracts participants from a large cross-section of society, with a view to building peace and reconciliation within the island of Ireland, between Ireland and Britain and beyond. Allocation: €200,000

Highfield Partnership, Belfast is a cross-community group that was brought together to deal with issues around West Belfast interfaces, in particular around the Springfield Road. This allocation will go towards a festival to promote understanding and acceptance of diversity during the parading season. Allocation: €5,000

Inishowen Women’s Information Network, Co Donegal along with the Mid-Ulster Women's Network, Derry, will carry out a three year project which will recruit 74 women and develop their capacity to work in their own communities with people from all religions on projects and activities involving reconciliation. Allocation: €90,000

Kilcooley Women’s Education and Development Group, Co Down provides a wide portfolio of training, education and support programmes for socially excluded and marginalized women, with the aim of encouraging a shared future for all in the locality. Alongside this, they provide training in peace and reconciliation to address the legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland, and take part in a range of cross-community activities with similar women’s groups in the North and in border counties. Allocation: €20,000

Lower Castlereagh Community Group, Belfast aims to provide the whole Lower Castlereagh community with the necessary skills to gain employment, to become active citizens and to become involved in training courses. Allocation: €10,000

Newhill Youth & Community Association, Belfast will facilitate community and youth development opportunities in the local communities of Dermothill, Newhill, New Barnsley and Moyard, with a particular emphasis on diffusing tensions around the Springfield Road interface. Allocation: €17,500

NIMMA, Belfast was established in 1974 as a self-help group for couples in mixed marriages and relationships, with the secondary aim of advising the churches and policy makers of the difficulties arising for such couples. Allocation: €20,000
 Northern Ireland’s Children Enterprise, Belfast is a community relations organization that aims to promote reconciliation, good relations and tolerance. This allocation of funding will go towards a programme entitled ‘Citizenship in a Divided Society’ in schools for 11 weeks, which will cover such issues as identity, diversity, stereotypes, prejudice and conflict management. Allocation: €20,000

Pat Finucane Centre for Human Rights & Social Change, Derry is a non-political, anti-sectarian organization that advocates a non-violent resolution of the conflict on the island of Ireland. The group’s activities include work with the families of victims of the conflict in their contact with the Historical Enquiries Team. Allocation: €25,000

Quaker House, Belfast was established to promote good community relations and good citizenship among the inhabitants of Northern Ireland. The group is bringing women together from inner city Belfast on a quilting project in which will aim to give the participants a broad perspective on the conflict and ways of dealing with its legacy. Allocation: €5,000

Shankill Surestart - Dads Matter, Belfast is an initiative that provides family support for families with children aged 0-4 years living within the Greater Shankill area. This particular project aims to allow young fathers to explore parenting issues, to enable them to become more aware of fatherhood. Allocation: €60,000

Shankill Women's Centre, Belfast promotes the social inclusion of young women and provides outreach development and support to areas with low community capacity. This particular project targets young women aged 13-25 with the aim of enabling them to work towards a peaceful future through reconciling differences between those of other cultures, religions and backgrounds and to fulfil their full potential and participate in community life. Allocation: €10,000

St. Patrick Centre, Downpatrick is the home of the only permanent exhibition dedicated to the study of Ireland’s patron saint. This allocation will contribute towards an educational programme that involves children from seven schools in Co. Down and Co. Louth in the creation of a documentary on their views on Irish identity. Allocation: €30,000                        
                        
Summer Madness, Belfast is an event involving up to 5000 young people in activities in Belfast over one week each year. The organization wishes to extend the project to Dublin this year, and hopes to bring together 200-400 young people to take part in their activities. Allocation: €9,500

Tim Parry Jonathan Ball Foundation is organizing a three-year Leadership Development Programme aimed at developing young British and Irish people together through a structured, comprehensive programme of learning that will take place in Ireland, North and South and Great Britain. Allocation: €75,000
 
Tipperary Peace Convention aims to promote the concept of peace and reconciliation through music, song, debate and discussion, and to reward annually a person or persons who make a particularly noteworthy contribution to the peace making process. Allocation: €2,000
 Wexford Garden & Flower Club was founded in 1968 to raise the standard of horticulture and floral arts of its members. They will host the Comber & District Horticultural Society, Co. Down to Wexford for a four day visit, to foster better relations and break down barriers that existed between the people of the North and South. Allocation: €2,500

ENDS + + +
Press
4/7/08