From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman T.D., today marked International Migrants Day with the announcement of €2.2m in funding to support migrant integration projects across Ireland.
Under the National Integration Fund, 18 projects nationwide will receive 3-year grant funding to help promote initiatives that address areas where migrants find it difficult to avail of opportunities on an equal basis with other members of Irish society.
Launching the National Integration Fund at Bohemians Football Club, who received funding, Minister O’Gorman said:
“I’m delighted to be announcing this €2.2m funding today. We want to build a society that is inclusive and welcoming of everyone in Ireland. The National Integration Fund will support integration throughout Ireland, helping to create communities that are stronger and kinder, and combatting intolerance, racism and xenophobia."
“Bohemians are a great club, not just for what they do on the pitch, but for the values they hold off it. They work to make sure that ensure that everyone is welcome, regardless of background, and I look forward to seeing what they and all recipients do through the National Integration Fund.”
The National Integration Fund 2020 is a key element of the Migrant Integration Strategy 2017-2020 which was developed to enable migrants, or persons of migrant origin, to participate on an equal basis with those of Irish heritage. Its primary objective is to ensure that barriers to full participation in Irish society by migrants or their Irish-born children are identified and addressed.
The funding is provided to projects which take an inclusive approach, aiming to bring migrants and host communities together and encompassing a range of themes, including increasing mutual understanding between local communities and migrants; combatting racism and xenophobia; promoting the integration into Irish society of vulnerable or socially-excluded immigrants and promoting the involvement of immigrants in sport, volunteering and cultural activities.
ENDS
The Migrant Integration Strategy sets out the Government’s commitment to the promotion of migrant integration as a key part of Ireland’s renewal and as an underpinning principle of Irish society. The Strategy provides a framework for a range of actions to support migrants to participate fully in Irish life. The actions proposed are designed to support the integration process. They are also intended to identify and address any remaining barriers to integration. The Strategy offers a flexible structure which allows for additional actions and initiatives to be added where new issues emerge over its lifetime. The Strategy was due to end in 2020 but, due to the impact of COVID-19 on implementation, the Minister has decided to extend the lifetime of the Strategy to end-2021.
The National Funding Programme 2020 arises from Action 6 of the Migrant Integration Strategy which calls for funding to be made available to promote positive action initiatives to address areas where migrants find it difficult to avail of opportunities on an equal basis with other members of Irish society.