THE RECIPIENTS of the first allocation of grants from the newly-launched anti-sectarianism fund were announced by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern.
Grants totalling €390,000 were made to eight different groups involved in a range of cross-community work.
Mr Ahern yesterday announced details of the grants at his department's third reconciliation forum being held in Dublin Castle for community and other organisations involved in reconciliation work.
"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," the Minister said.
"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", the Minister said.
The Programme for Government contained a commitment to establish an anti-sectarianism fund to support projects designed to address the root causes of sectarianism.
The allocation to the fund this year will be €1 million.
Grants will be given to individuals or organisations seeking to develop new projects to challenge intolerance and sectarianism in Ireland.
The grants were awarded as follows:
174 Trust, Belfast, which uses former Presbyterian Church buildings as a shared space for communities received: €40,000;
Clonard Monastery Youth Centre, Belfast for programmes bringing together young people from republican and loyalist communities: €15,000;
Football Association of Ireland, Dublin, to help cross-community work with the Irish Football Association: €25,000;
Holy Family Youth Centre, Belfast, for working with young people living on north Belfast's sectarian interfaces : €25,000;
Integrated Education Fund, Belfast, to fund schools programmes combating sectarianism: €150,000 over two years;
Saints Youth Centre, Belfast for a cross-community project involving young people: €20,000
Voice Highfield Reconciliation Project, Belfast, for a projects in the loyalist area which included cross-community and cross-Border community relations: €40,000;
Youthcom, Belfast: to boost work involving nearly 100 young people in cross-community projects €75,000.