Based in Belfast, capital of the British province, Church and community groups have been involved in local and cross-border outreach and reconciliation programmes.

"Efforts to foster reconciliation and build partnership and mutual respect, values at the heart of the (1998) Good Friday Agreement, need and deserve our ongoing support and encouragement," Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said.

Those receiving the funding range from cultural groups to organisations researching the involvement of soldiers from Belfast in World War I.

The grant aid is from the Irish Republic's Reconciliation Fund set up in 1982 to create better understanding between both parts of the island and between Ireland and Britain.

The grants, totalling 767,500 euros, represent the first tranche in the 2003 allocation.

The largest grant of 300,000 euros is to go to the all-island Co-operation North group, which runs programmes north and south of the border aimed at building relationships between communities.

Over 10 million euros has been paid out over the last four years to more than 300 organisations.

WAR.WIRE