The European Union unveiled €60 million funding for Northern Ireland and the Border counties yesterday to help build a successful peace process.
Regional development commissioner Danuta Hubner said the EU would give the money to the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) for use in projects to promote reconciliation between different communities in Ireland. The funds would be provided between 2007-2010 and would be the final allocation of funds by the EU to the IFI.
"I think we are just preparing people for a better future," said Ms Hubner, who will publish full details about the funding proposal by the European Commission tomorrow. "Let's hope one day we will have full peace in Northern Ireland."
The funding must still be approved by MEPs and EU member states. However, because it has already been provided for within the EU 2007-2013 budget it is likely to be approved.
IFI chairman Denis Rooney said he was delighted with the commission's proposal, which would enable the organisation to aid projects that worked toward reconciliation. He said there was still work to be done in the Border counties and Northern Ireland as it was very much a generational process to build peace.
The IFI was established as an independent international organisation by the British and Irish governments in 1986. Its objectives are to promote economic and social advancement and encourage contact, dialogue and reconciliation between nationalists and unionists throughout Ireland.
Since 1989 EU contributions towards the IFI and a separate programme called Peace I and Peace II have amounted to €1.2 billion. Ms Hubner said the judgment of the commission was that these funds had achieved good results.