Speaking today at The Wheel’s Annual Summit in Croke Park, the Minister of State for Community Development, Integration and Charities, Joe O’Brien, took the opportunity with some of the successful projects present at the Summit to announce the 56 projects set to receive €2,496,790 in funding under the International Protection Integration Fund 2024.
The fund helps community-based organisations to play a greater role in supporting the integration of International Protection applicants at local and national level. The International Protection Integration Fund (IPIF) comes after other three other sets of integration supports were announced this year by Minister Joe O’Brien; the National Integration Fund (NIF), the Asylum Migrant Integration Fund (AMIF), and the Community Integration Fund (CIF).
Minister O’Brien has doubled the fund compared to 2023 when awards of 1.2 million euro were disbursed. Minister O’Brien acknowledged the exceptional efforts of community and voluntary groups to help facilitate integration in communities of International Protection Applicants.
Welcoming the announcement, Minister O’Brien said:
“I am pleased to be able today to announce another in a series of integration specific funding announcements aimed at supporting local communities to successfully welcome new arrivals in a way that works with and for those arriving and the communities welcoming them. The efforts that are being undertaken in communities throughout Ireland to work positively for successful integration are inspiring and it was apt that I made today’s announcement at The Wheel’s Annual Summit where representatives from the Community & Voluntary sector – and indeed a number of the successful projects under this fund – were present.”