Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Concerns raised regarding Peace 3 application process

Published: 30 October, 2009

Noel Sheridan, Armagh City Sinn Féin Councillor, has raised concerns about the application process for Peace 3 Small Grants.

'In previous years community and voluntary groups have been put off applying for EU funding through Peace 1 and 2 due to the extremely difficult application forms and processes. We were led to believe that Peace 3 would be a simpler and user friendly application. Unfortunately this does not seem to have been the case.'

'I am aware that a number of voluntary community groups downloaded or had application forms sent out to them with high hopes of being able to access funding for valuable cross community work. Sadly, once they started to see the amount of hurdles involved many gave up in exasperation.'

Councillor Sheridan concluded;

'While this is not the fault of the Councils who are overseeing the implementation of delivering Peace 3 funding, I would urge a review by the SEUPB as to the application forms and processes to enable more voluntary community groups to access this important funding.'