Projects to tackle division in Northern Ireland and across the border have been handed more than £8m in funding.

Fears are growing for the future of the International Fund for Ireland today.

MEPs voted today to prolong a multimillion-pound international fund to foster cross-border projects supporting the peace process in the North.

ST PATRICK’S day in Brussels is unavoidable.

TED Kennedy wasn’t Jack and he wasn’t Bobby but, despite growing tarnished and growing old, he achieved more than both of them put together, particularly when it came to Ireland.

A delegation of US congressmen will hold talks with the President, Taoiseach and Tánaiste today as part of a week-long Irish visit.

The North is in danger of being pulled back into the dark days of violence if more is not done to address sectarianism, it was claimed today.

Over £10m (€10.8m) more is being pumped into promoting reconciliation and peace building in the North by the International Fund for Ireland.

Veteran US Senator Patrick Leahy will be honoured with an award from Irish academics today for his contribution to politics.

A £1m (€1.2m) initiative to build better relations in 30 mixed neighbourhoods across the North was launched today.

GEORGE M McKelvey has been named as US observer to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI).

THE EU has helped strongly to support the peace process in Ireland. Since 1995, it has provided €1.65 billion for economic and social projects along the border and within Northern Ireland.

TÁNAISTE Brian Cowen yesterday dropped a broad hint that the 1% income tax cut promised in the Fianna Fáil manifesto and Programme for Government is not going to happen in December’s Budget.

A European Commissioner leading a Brussels taskforce on the North Ireland will today meet a senior minister in the Stormont power sharing government.

The European Parliament is due to approve the allocation of €60m to the International Fund for Ireland later this week.

The official opening of the newly-constructed Oak Tree Business Park and Community Centre took place today at Killygordon in east Donegal.

A laywer told the Supreme Court today that Co Donegal man Frank Shortt is "still living the nightmare" for his wrongful conviction and arrest on charges of allowing the sale of drugs at his former nightclub in Inishowen.

A damning report on the operation of a fund set up to help emerging businesses in the North will be probed by a powerful House of Commons committee of MPs next week, it was revealed today.

TOUGH negotiations to hammer out the European Union’s budget for the next seven years will go down to the wire, the Irish Government predicted last night.

The US government has announced a $13.5m (€11.5m) donation to the International Fund for Ireland.

More employment opportunities are to be created in the deprived Poleglass area of west Belfast, it was revealed today.

An international fund supported by the EU, US and Canada is set to embark on a new five-year campaign to promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland, it emerged today.

Canada yesterday pledged CAN$2m (€1.26m) to the International Fund for Ireland to support its campaign for reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the border counties.

Three peace centres in counties Wicklow, Donegal and Antrim today received a boost from the International Fund from Ireland as it announced a package of financial support for their activities.

A TOTAL of €36.5 million was invested last year in more than 300 projects in the North and the Republic’s border counties by the International Fund for Ireland.

The International Fund for Ireland today reported investment in 2004 of €36.5m in more than 300 projects in Northern Ireland and the border counties in the Republic.

The European Parliament has approved funding of over €60m to help the Northern Irish peace process.

The International Fund for Ireland (IFI) today approved more than €2.3m in support for border county projects in the Republic at its Board Meeting in Belfast.

Businessman Denis Rooney is to become the new chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, it was revealed today.

Border county and North/South cross community projects are to receive funding of €1.16m from the International Fund for Ireland following its September Board Meeting held in Sligo today.

Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen has revealed that the European Commission may be close to providing significant extra funding for the peace process in the North.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is due to depart today on his annual St Patrick’s Day visit to Washington DC.

SINCE its foundation in 1985 the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) has invested €2.25 billion helping disadvantaged areas in the border region and across Northern Ireland.

The International Fund for Ireland approved grants of €43m to 250 projects on both sides of the border last year, according to the organisation’s annual report for 2003.

The replica famine ship Jeanie Johnston has arrived in Newfoundland in Canada.

A development company in Co Antrim has announced plans to build a business park in Larne that could create up to 150 jobs in the next five years.

The Jeanie Johnston has arrived in Boston.

I BELIEVE that the visit

The US House of Representatives voted tonight to commit £31.6m over two years to advancing the peace process in Northern Ireland, renewing support for an international programme pushing economic development in the region.

A replica famine ship commemorating the plight of Irish emigrants today set sail bound for the United States.

A replica famine ship commemorating the plight of Irish emigrants was today setting sail from Co Kerry to the United States.

A new £730,000 (€1.1m) Enterprise Centre developed by a local community group was officially opened in Derry today.

Over 100 new jobs are to be created in four counties.

Communications Minister Dermot Ahern has launched a new cross-border ferry service between Greencastle in Co Donegal and Magilligan in Co Derry.