Govt launches fund to fight sectarianism

Loyalist and republican communities in Belfast were today among the first groups to benefit from a new Government fund to fight sectarianism.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern announced grants totalling €390,000 for eight cross-community projects in the North.

Plans for the Irish government’s new Anti-Sectarianism Fund were first announced in February and it is now set to award €1m in grant aid during 2008.

“Sectarianism, in all its forms, is not only an attack upon individual victims, but also fundamentally an attack against the values of the shared society that we are building towards,” said Mr Ahern.

“It is vital that we not only eliminate sectarianism but also that we begin to confront the ways of thinking that allow sectarianism to flourish.

“The Irish Government is especially conscious of the important role that community-based organisations can and do play in combating sectarianism.

“In recognition of this, the Programme for Government contained a commitment to establish an Anti-Sectarianism Fund, specifically to support projects that have been designed to address the root causes of sectarianism.”

Mr Ahern announced details of the funding at his department’s third Reconciliation Forum being held today in Dublin Castle for community groups and other organisations involved in reconciliation work.

Mr Ahern called on other groups to apply for funding and confirmed the eight organisations to benefit from the first tranche of funding were:

:: The 174 Trust in north Belfast which uses former Presbyterian Church buildings as a shared space for communities received €40,000.

:: Clonard Monastery Youth Centre in west Belfast was awarded €15,000 for programmes bringing together young people from republican and loyalist communities.

:: The Football Association of Ireland received €25,000 to help cross-community work with the Irish Football Association.

:: The Holy Family Youth Centre working with young people living on north Belfast’s sectarian interfaces received €25,000.

:: The Integrated Education Fund received the largest grant of €150,000 to fund schools programmes combating sectarianism.

:: The Saint’s Youth Centre in Dunmurry in Belfast was awarded €20,000 for a cross-community project involving young people.

:: The VOICE Highfield Reconciliation Project received €40,000 for a series of projects in the loyalist area which included cross-community and cross-border community relations.

:: The Youthcom group in Belfast received €75,000 to boost work involving nearly 100 young people in cross-community projects.