Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this important topic for discussion. It is an issue in which he has had a keen interest for many years and I am delighted to be in a position to update the Seanad on it. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, has asked me to convey his apologies and regrets that he cannot be here.

As co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government remains committed to supporting and encouraging integrated education in Northern Ireland as an essential aspect of the reconciliation process. Considerable progress on reconciliation has been seen in the 18 years since the signing of the Agreement on 10 April 1998, but, as the Seanad will be aware, Northern Ireland continues to be, in large part, a segregated society. Integrated education which brings together students of Catholic and Protestant traditions and those of other faiths and none offers huge potential to address the divisions that persist and help to promote a culture of tolerance throughout all communities. It is through meaningful shared experiences such as education that young people will have the opportunity to truly begin to get to know people from different backgrounds and leave behind the burdens of the past.

The commitment of the Irish and British Governments, as well as the parties in the Northern Ireland Executive, to encourage initiatives in support of integrated education, as well as shared education, was further stated in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement and the 2015 Fresh Start plan. In this regard, the announcement in March 2016 by the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Ms Theresa Villiers, on the release of funding in support of the Stormont House Agreement and Fresh Start commitments was a welcome development which should support the provision of additional integrated schools and facilitate the building of new facilities for a number of existing integrated schools.

In support of the Irish Government’s long-standing commitment in this area, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s reconciliation fund has provided financial support for many years for organisations working in the area of integrated education, including the Integrated Education Fund and the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education. I take the opportunity to commend both organisations for the joint work they carry out on this issue. Since 2011, €158,000 has been provided in grants for the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education, including a grant of €25,000 in 2015. A further application is pending. In the first round of 2016 funding, the Integrated Education Fund received a grant of €10,000 from the reconciliation fund. To date since 2009, over €91,000 has been allocated to the Integrated Education Fund in support of its work. In addition to this, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including through the Irish Joint Secretariat in Belfast, engages closely on the issue of integrated education and provides a range of additional supports for organisations working on this issue, including through the hosting of events to highlight this important aspect of reconciliation.