Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 26 September 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement

PEACE IV Programme: Discussion with Special EU Programmes Body

1:00 pm

Mr. Pat Colgan:

Another important PEACE programme project is the Clones Erne east investment, which is one of our creating shared public spaces initiatives. The project has seen land owned by the Ulster GAA Council transformed into a multi-sport facility for rugby, Gaelic football, cricket, soccer, hockey and bowling. It is an excellent example of the co-operation that is possible. We are happy with how the Ulster GAA Council and, as Shaun Henry mentioned, all the other sporting organisations are engaging with us, and there is the potential for more of that.

We also have a football-for-all initiative that we run with the Irish Football Association in which we work with the fans on sectarian issues. We have showcased the projects on international stages which we recently did in Brussels, for example. We are getting some great reaction from around Europe on the initiatives that we are engaged with.