The new head of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) has said that ‘support’ is needed from Stormont to help divert young people away from paramilitaries.
Paddy Harte, who took over as chairperson back in March, recently announced funding of £1,133,026 for nine projects.
These nine projects will use the money to work with polarised communities.
Despite the funding, Mr Harte has however said that more is now expected of communities.
Praising local communities as the ‘unsung hero’s’ of the peace process, Mr Heart also went on to say,
“A lot of progress has been made by communities however they can only take that so far, you cannot have a healthy prosperous society without a functioning democracy, that’s just a fact of life.”
Mr Harte also took the opportunity to address the issue of Brexit and its impact.
Speaking about post Brexit Mr Harte said,
“Whatever way Brexit lands, the whole concept of Brexit has rekindled old wounds, fear of identity, threats to culture, and the border and that’s going to be a big issue for some time to come.
“I seem to have ended up in a particular place at a particular time, a border person ends up at the head of the fund when the border becomes an issue again.”
One of the local projects funded by the IFI is Ulidia Training PIP (Peace Impact Programme) and PYDP (Personal Youth Development Programme)
