A NEW initiative announced today will see the Irish Government engage with members of the diaspora across Britain and further afield to deepen their connections to their homeland.
The Shared Home Place programme will be formally announced today by Taoiseach Micheál Martin as a new phase of the ongoing Shared Island Initiative.
Mr Martin will reveal the details of the programme while making a keynote speech at the fourth Shared Island Forum, which more than 250 political, civic, community and economic stakeholders from across the island of Ireland are expected to attend at St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle today.
Over 250 political, civic, community and economic stakeholders from across the island of Ireland are attending the event at St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle today“Our programme for Government sets out an ambitious agenda for continuing to build our shared island, backed by a further €1bn investment in the Shared Island Fund out to 2035," he explained.
“In February, the Government announced over €50m from the Shared Island Fund for new programmes on sustainable tourism; arts and cultural heritage; civic society cooperation; and community-led nature restoration," he added
“At the Shared Island Forum today, I will be marking the step-change achieved in deepening all-island co-operation and connections since the inception of the Shared Island Initiative, and will look ahead to the next phase of building a shared future together on the island of Ireland," he explained.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will formally announce the programme today (picture byLeah Farrell forRollingNews).ie“Our strengthened partnership with the UK Government and positive engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive provides the most promising context we have had for years for harnessing what North-South and East-West partnership can deliver.
“I will be setting out how we will take up this exciting, essential opportunity to develop each of the complementary and interconnecting relationships of our Good Friday Agreement - through our shared political institutions and right across society.
“We will commence a new dimension to the Shared Island Initiative this year - the ‘Shared Home Place’ programme.
"This will be open to people across every corner of the island of Ireland to build new connections and consensus on our place-based heritage."
The Taoiseach further confimed that the programme will engange "in particular" with the contributions of Irish, Anglo-Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions across the island of Ireland, and "with those of Irish communities in Britain and further afield".
"We want to better acknowledge how these are all integral parts of the heritage of the island today and crucial to how we build reconciliation into the future," he added.
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