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 Northern Ireland.
Plans for the Government’s new Anti-Sectarianism Fund were first announced in February, and it is set to award €1 million 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.
"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.
PA