‘Peace IV Programme has potential to engage people across Sligo’
SLIGO PEACE IV PROGRAMME IS LAUNCHED AT CITY HALL
THE Sligo Peace IV Programme is to receive €860,000 of EU PEACE IV funding and was launched at an event held in City Hall, Sligo on Tuesday 10 th April 2018.
The funding is being provided by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) through the Peace IV Programme. Match funding has been provided by the Executive Office in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.
The implementation of the Sligo Peace IV Programme will be overseen by the Peace IV Sub Committee of the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC). Sligo County Council will be the lead partner during the implementation phase which will run until December 2019. The Sligo Peace IV Programme will provide a range of interventions and initiatives across the three key themes of Children and Young People, Shared Spaces and Services and Building Positive Relations.
The funding will be used in the delivery of local community initiatives for children and young people involving music, sport and capacity building. There will also projects and initiatives focussing on our shared literary and built heritage.
Allied to the capital works to develop a shared civic space in Sligo city centre, will be engagement of members of the local community in a placemaking programme. A small grants programme to support grass roots peace building activities and initiatives will also be rolled out.
Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Seamus Kilgannon said “It is fitting that we launch the Sligo Peace IV Programme today which is the 20 th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Peace in Northern Ireland has been good for the Island of Ireland and all its people. The Peace IV Programme now provides County Sligo with a great opportunity to continue the work of peace building and contribute to a peaceful region and Island.”
Councillor Sinéad Maguire, Chair of the Local Community Development Committee and Peace IV Sub Committee said “The Peace IV Programme has the potential to engage people of all ages across County Sligo. In particular the Programme will be a valuable means of encouraging our young people to embrace diversity and difference from an early age. Likewise, there are many people who lived here in County Sligo during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, they can contribute greatly to individual Projects and the overall Programme with the sharing of their experiences and memories.
“With so much uncertainty in the Border Region and Northern Ireland at the present time surrounding Brexit, it is an ideal time to have the Peace Programme as a timely reminder of the benefits of positive cross community and cross border relations.
The Programme has been in the planning since June 2016. It has developed from initial public consultations, drafting and submission of the application to SEUPB and approval stages. Now we are at the implementation stage and the positive impacts will soon be visible here in County Sligo.
“We are grateful to the SEUPB for their help this far and I trust that we can continue to count on this support going forward.
I will conclude by stressing that the importance of peace building on the Island of Ireland, North and South, cannot be underestimated and that the Sligo Peace IV Programme will play it’s part in continuing this process.” Gina McIntyre, CEO of the Special EU Programmes Body said: “Delivering at a local level, addressing local needs, building community cohesion, is the reason that one third of the EU’s PEACE IV Programme has been allocated directly to local authorities across Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland.
“We have seen, on many occasions, how this approach can make a significant contribution to supporting a new wave of cross-community initiatives that will help to heal divided communities now and in the future,” she continued.