EC may be close to increasing North funding

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.

Speaking at an EU summit in Brussels today, Mr Cowen said the EU Council of Ministers would ask the commission to make the extra money available.

“The European Council is calling on the commission to examine the possibility of aligning interventions under the Peace II Programme and the International Fund for Ireland with those of the other programmes under the structural funds that come to an end in 2006, including the implications in financial terms,” he said.