Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 18 January 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
PEACEPLUS Programme: Special EU Programmes Body
Ms Gina McIntyre:
We do have it within the programme. We kept all the sectors very flexible. We have not tied down any area and said that it can only deliver this or that. We have kept it flexible so it is about the relationship building. In post conflict, we have realised how important the community is. It is about the community working with the statutory agencies and the statutory agencies and the government departments listening to the community and the needs. As Mr. Beattie said earlier, the communities know who the most vulnerable in their areas are. We are trying to ensure that, particularly in areas like health, rural regeneration and small grants, communities are given the opportunity to really tell us and to set up activities around what is really needed because they do know. What we have seen time and again - unfortunately, we have seen it recently - is that the community gets cut first from this funding even though these are the people who will make such an impact in a post-conflict society and a post-traumatic society. In the mental health aspect, we are very much focused on intergenerational trauma. There are a lot of studies which we have taken on board. Therefore, there is quite a significant amount of money in theme 3 particularly for young people for mental health and trauma. We have seen the impact of that. I mentioned earlier the small grants, in particular, in areas such as arts, storytelling and sharing experiences within communities. We really want to try to push those in the small grants and peace building because that is what helps people's mental health, too. A lot of people do not think they are affected mentally. They probably do not think they are affected from Covid but they are. We are trying to get those people to realise that they can be part of a local community group. Areas like that and actions to mitigate some of the post-conflict and intergenerational trauma are very much in the programme.
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