THE European Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner, Mr Padraig Flynn, has pledged that the £240 million EU peace package fund will not dry up because of the ending of the IRA ceasefire.
Mr Flynn toured Northern Ireland yesterday dispensing more than £15 million under the European Union's Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border counties.
Speaking in Belfast yesterday, he stressed that despite the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire the EU was still committed to the fund and to supporting the peace process.
He said he hoped the fund would help encourage reconciliation.
"This fund will continue, and that is my commitment," he said at the Ballybeen Women's Centre in east Belfast where he announced £1.8 million in funding for 48 community based organisations around Northern Ireland, and in the Border counties.
The Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust (NIVT) is charged with allocating this funding. It has responsibility for distributing £26 million of the total peace package fund of £240 million, and has dispensed over £2.5 million to date.
The grants allocated yesterday under the remit of the NIVT ranged from £250 to more then £90,000.
A grant of £93,500, the largest under this heading, went to WAVE, a voluntary support group which provides counselling for people bereaved as a result of the troubles.
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