Huge demand for peace funds

Money goes to areas affected by violence

Grant applications for areas affected by violence in Northern Ireland have been halted due to an overwhelming demand.

The Community Relations Council (CRC) said it was not taking any more applications for grants from its Peace Two Programme because of the unprecedented number of applications.

The CRC's European Directorate offers money to promote reconciliation in areas hit by civil disturbances.

The director of the Council's European programme, Jim Dennison, said requests for funding had already exceeded £20m - almost three times the available budget.

We will be able to support a number of good, solid projects but when you have a limited budget, you can only fund a limited number of people

Jim Dennison
Community Relations Council

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster on Wednesday, he said: "We have approximately £7m to spend, which sounds like quite a lot of money, but when run over a four year programme across Northern Ireland, it's not actually that much.

"We have been very pleased. We will be able to support a number of good, solid projects - but when you have a limited budget, you can only fund a limited number of people."

'Range of organisations'

Mr Dennison said the demand was down to a "genuine keenness with individuals and organisations across Northern Ireland to actually undertake peace building work".

"Peace One was very successful in many ways, where it helped stimulate interest with community and voluntary sector organisations in addressing things like division, diversity and conflict and this is building upon that work and that's why there is the demand," he said.

"We would urge government to actually look at the good, solid work that is being undertaken by a range of organisations throughout the region and ask that that support be continued in some fashion."

The council invited applications from December last year and believed the money would last for about four years.

While more money may become available under Peace II, it will be on a lower level because of Northern Ireland's loss of 'priority one status' by the European Union.

The CRC is still making decisions about who will get the money and it expects they will be assessing the applications until November.