The wonderful work of bringing up young people who are free from political or religious bigotry continues.
Horizon, which was set up to bring secondary school students from both sides of the Border together, is one such organisation.
It was founded in 1993 when senior pupils from Hunterhouse School in Belfast and Alexandra College in Dublin spent a weekend together in Dublin. This formed the nucleus of a programme which would enable them to understand the challenges of the new century.
Since then the number of schools North and South taking part has risen to 40 this year and gatherings of young people have taken place in Castlewellan, Co Down, Killarney, Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare and in Bundoran, Co Donegal.
The organisation is funded by the EU Special Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and it aims to bring young people together so they can live together without fear or mistrust.
The theme of this year's gathering is "Sharing Our Place" and for the first time the midlands will be the venue, with the Killeshin Hotel, catering for the girls, and the Montague Hotel, both in Portlaoise, becoming the base.
The 400 young people will be split into two main sections. Tomorrow morning one section will be involved in indoor activities and the other section will be outdoors, and in the afternoon the group activities will be reversed.
Lined up for the indoor activities will be puppetry, music and mime and the others will take part in a treasure hunt on Birr Demesne and visit the science centre with the giant telescope.
Saturday will be spent hill walking in the Slieve Bloom mountains and this will be followed by a disco and talent show.
On Sunday there will be an hour of recollection as well as religious services before they disperse.
According to Irene Dowd, one of Horizon's directors and one of the two teachers who founded the organisation, the break will give the students the opportunity to enjoy learning about and understanding places and people they have never had the opportunity to visit before.
"Together they will be building social, religious and educational bridges to one another and this gathering will bring the work of the year to a climax and prepare students for the following school year," she said.
A similar but more international gathering of young people will begin in Athlone as the Horizon group breaks up. It will involve an East Meets West Project and Special Millennium Youth Forum for 250 young people.
They will be coming from schools in Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, England, Wales and from Ireland, North and South.
The Copernicus Project seeks to promote a better Europe in a better world by engaging in constructive dialogue, educational experience and in the sharing of their culture.
The East Meets West Project will run from March 12-19th in St Joseph's College, Summer hill, Athlone, where the youngsters will work on producing a special newspaper for the event.
The other group for the Special Millennium Youth Forum will involve the young people taking part in workshops and discussions. Both groups will also take part in the St Patrick's Day Parade.