The US has U-turned on its plans to cease funding for a longstanding peacebuilding project in Ireland and has now announced a $4 million support package for the project.
The International Fund for Ireland (IFI), which helped to lay the foundation for the Belfast Agreement, was created in 1986 through a historic agreement between the Irish and British governments, with the support of Ronald Reagan, then US president, and “Tip” O’Neill, who was US speaker of the House.
The peace and reconciliation project has funded the removal of peace walls in Northern Ireland and programmes to prevent young people from being recruited by paramilitaries. It has been credited as one of the greatest success stories of the peace process.
However, last year, US president Donald Trump started to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAid) as part of what was presented as a plan to improve US government “efficiency”.
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In early March, the US announced it was ending its main financial support for the peacebuilding project in Ireland.
However, on Monday, US ambassador to Ireland Edward S Walsh announced $4 million in new US support for the IFI, in a U-turn on the early March announcement.
During his visit to the border region, the ambassador met representatives of IFI-supported projects.
“The progress we’ve seen in Northern Ireland over the past decades is remarkable,” he said. “Programmes supported by the International Fund for Ireland demonstrate how sustained commitment to peace and reconciliation can deliver real and lasting change in people’s lives.”
The announcement of funding for the project also helped to safeguard American business investments, he said: “By supporting stability, we’re also safeguarding the nearly $2 billion investment by American companies in Northern Ireland and the wider region.”
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IFI chairperson Shona McCarthy said the funding announcement comes at a “pivotal moment as we prepare to launch our next phase of peacebuilding”, with a new strategy for the coming five years.
“The support of international donors, particularly the political and financial support from the US over the past 40 years, is vital to our neutral and impartial work,” she said.
The IFI, which funds civic projects that bring nationalist, unionist and cross-Border communities together, has inspired attempts to create a project for Israel and Palestine.
Over the last 40 years, the US has been one of the main supporters of the fund. Successive Washington administrations – including Trump’s first – together contributed more than $500 million (€435 million).
The Irish Government has described Washington’s contribution to the fund as “the main financial means for US government assistance to peacebuilding on the island”.
