Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Press Releases - £6 million cash boost to support peace and reconciliation

18 May 2006

36 community organisations from across Northern Ireland are set to receive a total of more than £6 million in European Union funding through the Community Relations Council (CRC). The cash, provided through the extension of Peace II funding, is intended to help promote 'reconciliation for sustainable peace'.

Press release:

Thursday May 18, 2006

£6 million cash boost to support peace and reconciliation

Details of the projects and organisations receiving funding are being unveiled at an event in Grosvenor House on Belfast's Glengall Street today (Thursday May 18).

CRC is an intermediary funding body with responsibility for the Reconciliation for Sustainable Peace Measure of the EU Peace II Extension.

CRC chief executive, Duncan Morrow, says that the money is vital in facilitating practical work to support peace-building and reconciliation.

“Peace II funding brought the opportunity to facilitate meaningful engagement between people from a range of diverse backgrounds and with an array of views and opinions in order to help create understanding and trust,” he says. “The extension of the funding in the form of this £6m boost will allow us to continue supporting this work well into 2008, instead of to the original cut off date for Peace II of June 2006.”

“We are confident that the projects that this money is making possible will play a significant role in underpinning the building of a shared future which is so important to the economic and social wellbeing of Northern Ireland,” Dr Morrow adds.

CRC director of European programmes, Jim Dennison, says: “We are delighted to be supporting such strong projects which will no doubt make a significant and positive impact. The projects which cover the arts, churches, sport, politics, community development and other areas, represent a broad geographical spread right across Northern Ireland.”

Pat Colgan, Chief Executive of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), which manages the PEACE programme, says: “Today's announcement illustrates how the European Union's PEACE programme is enabling people, communities and organisations to take advantage of the opportunities arising from peace. With its support for these projects, the PEACE programme continues to be instrumental in bringing people together for the common goal of promoting a stable and peaceful society.”

Projects receiving funding include an initiative to facilitate political discussion between women who share common concerns and experiences but who are from different backgrounds, an initiative to enable people to better understand their history in order to deal with the past and move forward, and a project in North Belfast to help integrate local communities and explore ways that they can work together for their mutual benefit.

Projects receiving funding:

Armagh College (Armagh),

Armagh Peace-Building through Education Project: £164,900

Ballynafeigh Community Development Association (Belfast),

Mixed Links Project: £150,000

Belfast Interface Project (Belfast): £158,000
Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland (Belfast),

Peace and Reconciliation in a Plural Society: £125,000

Cliftonville Community Regeneration Project (Belfast),

North Belfast Interface Network: £200,000

Downtown Women's Group (Belfast): £91,500
Edgehill Theological College (Belfast),

Reconciliation Project: £116,000

Gaslight Productions (L'Derry),

Epilogues Project: £120,000

Irish Football Association (Belfast),

Football for All Project: £142,600

Irish School of Ecumenics (Belfast),

Learning Together: £125,000

LINC Resource Centre (Belfast),

Building Peace Through Partnership: £150,000

Link Family and Community Centre (Newtownards),

The Link Community Relations Project: £120,000

Mediation Northern Ireland (Belfast),

Good Relations in Local Government: £120,000

North West Play Resource Centre (L'Derry),

Exploring Community Relations Through the Arts: £125,000

Peace and Reconciliation Group (L'Derry),

PRG Mediation Service: £100,000

REACT (Armagh),

Understanding and Accepting Cultural Diversity: £132,976

Shankill Stress and Trauma Group (Belfast),

First Steps Project: £53,900

St Columb's Park House (L'Derry),

Negotiating Change: Addressing Protestant Alienation in L'Derry: £71,900

The 1825 Project (Craigavon),

Politics Made Simple: £60,000

Towards Understanding and Healing (L'Derry),

Making a Big Difference: £125,000

Ulster People's College (Belfast),

People's History Initiative: £132,000

Understanding Conflict Trust (Coleraine),

Common Ways Project: £100,000

Youth Action Northern Ireland (L'Derry),

Waterside Youth Led Good Relations Project: £120,000

Youth Initiatives (Belfast),

Creative Cross-Links: £170,000

Youth Link NI (Belfast),

Building Social and Cultural Capital: £125,000

Groundwork NI (Belfast), capital works: £70,000
Harmony Community Trust, capital works: £24,000
Kilcranny House (Coleraine), capital works: £110,000
Kilmakee House, capital works: £28,000
Rathenraw Community Development (Antrim), capital works: £82,000
Suffolk Community Forum (Belfast), capital works: £131,000
Tara Counselling and Personal Development, capital works: £250,000
The Corrymela Community, capital works: £200,000
The Link Family and Community Centre, capital works: £100,000
Youth Link NI, capital works: £150,000

END

Media contact:

Chris Harrison or Dorothy Hawe, JPR: 028 9076 0066, 077 6641 7550 or 077 3885 3359