Minister announces funding to welcome refugees

Funding to help local communities welcome and support refugee families has been announced by Justice Minister, Helen McEntee.

She urged interested bodies to apply for funding to develop Regional Support Organisations (RSOs) to develop the Government’s Community Sponsorship programme for migrants.

Total funding of €770,000 has been made available for the Irish Refugee Protection Programme under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020 (AMIF).

Announcing the call for applications, the Minister McEntee said,“Increased diversity presents Ireland, as a society, with many opportunities. Opportunities to enrich our culture, expand our economy, and, more generally, to share ideas and learn from each other.

“This funding will assist groups whose priority it is to ensure that refugees and other migrants can integrate successfully into Irish life and make a real contribution.”

Geographical spread will be a criteria for the selection of projects to receive funding .

Meath is included in a region which also includes Kildare, Wicklow, Westmeath and Offaly and the maximum funding available for each individual geographical area is €110,000.

Community Sponsorship Ireland (CSI) is a programme to enable a willing population to engage locally by directly supporting a refugee family. The Pilot phase has concluded and has now entered implementation phase with applications accepted on an ongoing basis.

Application forms for interested groups, and a guide containing more information on the AMIF, can be found by accessing the following links – http://justice.ie/en/JELR/ISD_AMIF2020_Application_Form_Part_1-ISDAF1.docx/Files/ISD_AMIF2020_Application_Form_Part_1-ISDAF1.docx and http://justice.ie/en/JELR/ISD_AMIF2020_Application_Form_Part%202-ISDAF2.xlsx/Files/ISD_AMIF2020_Application_Form_Part%202-ISDAF2.xlsx

The deadline for submitting applications 12noon on 15th September.