Funding secured for Monaghan Peace Campus

31 January 2019

The Agency recently supported Monaghan County Council to secure a grant of €9.5M from EU PEACE funds to build a major new facility in Monaghan town that will include a significant Ulster-Scots cultural space, the first of its type in Monaghan or Cavan. 

Monaghan County Council recently received the news that they had been successful in its funding application under the European Union’s Peace IV Programme, which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) to deliver the ambitious Peace Campus project. 

Funded under the programmes Shared Spaces Capital Development objective, the €14.3 million project, with €9.5 million being allocated from the Peace IV Programme, will provide, under one roof, a youth facility delivering recreational, social support and training opportunities for young people, community space for services for the whole community, a cultural heritage centre promoting shared history, and a new town library providing space and opportunities for engagement, interaction and learning.

Welcoming the funding award Gina McIntyre, CEO of the SEUPB said: “We are delighted to announce that The Monaghan Peace Campus has been successful in demonstrating how it will create a new shared space for the entire community to enjoy, and we will be making further funding announcements in the Shared Spaces objective within the PEACE IV Programme over the coming weeks. 

“This funding stream in the Shared Space objective is to help support cross-community engagement, build trust and encourage reconciliation within some of the more polarised communities across this region, who are still living with high levels of segregation with little opportunity to engage meaningfully with each other. PEACE IV has allocated over 50 million to support at least 8 projects in this funding strand.”

Eamonn O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of Monaghan County Council said: “The Peace Campus has been designed specifically to support and encourage cross-community engagement.  The Peace Campus will be a space for everyone to feel welcome regardless of background or beliefs.  This project has been 3 years in the making and has seen new relationships formed with the Orange Order, Ulster Scots Agency, and Muineachán Le Gaeilge, the first time this has happened in a Peace Programme in County Monaghan.”

The 3 storey building comprising of 3355 sqm of indoor community facilities & 3235 sqm of external community space has been specifically designed to create social interaction, encourage cross community engagement & enable cross border activities, and will be located at the ‘Old Machinery Yard’ site on the Plantation Road.

This project has taken over 2 years to develop and is down to the great collaboration work of Monaghan County Council, the steering committee and stakeholders including local schools, youth organisations and a range of cross community groups. 

Councillor David Maxwell, Cathaoirleach of Monaghan County Council said: “We are delighted that this funding application was approved by SEUPB.  A lot of hard work and commitment has been put in to get it to this stage and we look forward to work commencing on this project in the Summer of 2019.”

Councillor Paudge Connolly, Chair of Peace Campus Steering Committee said: “As Chair of the Steering Committee for the Peace Campus I was delighted with the news that our application was successful.  The Peace Campus will be a great asset not only to County Monaghan but to all communities in the border region.”

Match-funding for this project has been provided by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland and the Department of Rural and Community Development in Ireland.