Some 20 organisations in cross-community, educational, research and outreach activities have been given grants totalling £611,150 from the Department of Foreign Affairs' Reconciliation Fund.
Announcing the grants yesterday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said this completed the allocation of grants totalling £2 million from the fund, which was increased eight-fold last April.
The grants include £100,000 for the Jeanie Johnston project in Kerry to part-fund the reconstruction near Tralee of the famous Irish emigrant ship by young people from North and South.
There is £75,000 for interim measures for the Battle of the Boyne site; £70,000 for Derry and Raphoe Action to promote the capacity-building of rural Protestant communities in Derry, Tyrone and Donegal to enable them to contribute towards cross-Border and cross-community interaction; and £60,000 for the Foundry Regeneration Trust, Belfast, which is committed to community outreach, education and training for the most disadvantaged people in north and west Belfast, and addressing educational disadvantage and exclusion among Protestant and Catholic communities.
Ballincollig Senior Citizens' Club, Cork, which has been promoting cross-Border and cross-community interaction since 1986, has been allocated £35,000. Omagh Boys and Girls Club, which has been pivotal in advancing reconciliation through the education and the empowerment of the young people of Omagh, has been given £43,000.
The Tim Parry/Johnathan Ball Trust gets £30,000. It is opening a peace centre in Warrington in March and plans to bring together 4,000 young people annually from the UK and Ireland, North and South, to discuss conflict resolution.
Mr Angus Mitchell, a Roger Casement academic, has been given £30,000 to complete a seven-year study. Smaller grants from £5,000 to £20,000 were also allocated.
Mr Andrews said the Belfast Agreement underlined the need for reconciliation between the traditions on this island and the promotion of a culture of tolerance at every level in society. The establishment of the new institutions over the last few weeks demonstrated the commitment of the people of Ireland, North and South, to these principles.
He said the grants recognised in particular the outstanding work undertaken by voluntary organisations to achieve reconciliation between the traditions and between Ireland and Britain.
"I believe these organisations will continue to play an important part in promoting the trust that is so essential to the success of the Belfast Agreement and in consolidating peace," he said.