News & Views

Tánaiste Micheál Martin TD, has announced an open call for applications for the latest round of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Shared Island Civic Society Fund. The Tánaiste also announced the list of successful organisations who have received support through the first round, published earlier this year.

The Shared Island Civic Society Fund is a €3 million initiative, which promotes practical North South cooperation and engagement, across a range of sectors and themes, consistent with the objectives and commitments of the Good Friday Agreement. The next round of funding, which will allocate up to €1 million, will accept applications from Monday 25 September 2023.

Announcing the grants, the Tánaiste said: “I am delighted to announce the opening of the Shared Island Civic Society Fund for new applications from next week. This follows on from the successful conclusion of the first round of funding. Twenty cross-border projects have received support in an exciting first step for the initiative. These projects will support civil society and community groups to form new and interesting collaborations, strengthen existing partnerships and work on cross-border connections.”

The Tánaiste also spoke of the Department of Foreign Affairs’ plans for future funding calls under the Shared Island Civic Society Fund: “I am pleased to confirm that we are doubling the level of support available through the Shared Island Civic Society Fund in this new call for proposals. There was an extremely high level of interest in the first round of the fund, which clearly illustrates a real appetite among civic society groups, North and South, for increased cross-border cooperation.”

The Shared Island Civic Society Fund, which has been developed as part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative and supported through the Shared Island Fund, has provided €500,000 to cross-border projects in its initial round of funding earlier this year.

Funding was awarded to twenty projects across a broad range of sectors and themes, including in the areas of climate/environment, community development, heritage, social enterprise, charity/voluntary, and sports. Each of these projects have a strong North South dimension and will facilitate the development of new cross-border links, the strengthening of existing relationships, or the broadening of North South connectivity on issues of common concern for civic society groups on both sides of the border.

Further Info

• The Shared Island Civic Society Fund was launched in January 2023 to promote practical North South cooperation and engagement across a range of sectors and themes, consistent with the objectives and the commitments of the Good Friday Agreement.
• Applications are required to have a clear North South dimension, involving cross-border partners collaborating on a project to strengthen North South civic, economic, cultural, and/or political links.
• The latest round of the Shared Island Civic Society Fund will accept applications from Monday 25 September 2023 to Monday 23 October with total funding available of up to €1m

Further information on the Shared Island Civic Society Fund is available at: https://www.dfa.ie/about-us/funding/sharedislandcivicsocietyfund/

The initial round of the Shared Island Civic Society Fund took place earlier this year. A full list of organisations being supported through the Shared Island Civic Society Fund in 2023 is available here.