Mr. Niall Burgess:

I was a director of the International Fund for Ireland in a previous incarnation and I know the value of the work it has done with disadvantaged communities in Northern Ireland, in particular, but also in cross-border work. The International Fund for Ireland, until very recently, was essentially scaling down its activities and working through its existing workload. One of the real values of the International Fund for Ireland has been the connection it made between the US, in particular, and other donors and reconciliation activities in Northern Ireland. We have been working with the board of the IFI for some years to allow it to sustain and maintain its activities, particularly with US support and possibly also with EU support. However, it was unable to secure matching funding or support until recently. The funds we had in our account were not ultimately deployed to the IFI because we did not have matching funds from other organisations. That has now finally changed because the IFI has secured funding support and a commitment to funding support for another phase of activities with a significant commitment of funds through Congress in the US and from the UK. We now believe its funding activities and programmes are getting back on track, as is needed.