Integration and Social Inclusion

The Trust would like to contribute to the development of a socially cohesive society, through supporting the integration of refugees and ethnic minorities and encouraging the building of socially inclusive neighbourhoods, avoiding the creation of new ghettos that perpetuate cycles of disadvantage.

In our current times, it is essential to build strong relationships across the community for the benefit of all of society, developing alternatives to the current system of direct provision, encouraging humane responses to people seeking refuge, actively seeking to remove barriers to integration, and ensuring that second generation migrants feel part of Irish identity and society.

Please note: This funding programme is now closed. No new funding is being awarded in this area

What we funded…

On Integration

The Trust has approved multi-annual funding for Doras Luimni, Nasc and the Immigrant Council of Ireland to work on supporting integration locally and nationally (2018-2020). To Migrants Rights Centre to progress work in supporting undocumented children and domestic carers and to the Irish Refugee Council to support its legal and information support service and to progress encouragement of non-profit alternative’s to Direct Provision accommodation.

The Trust also supports Sanctuary Scholarships in UCC, CIT and LIT. And has in the past supported Summer camps for children living in Direct Provision in Cork and Sanctuary Runners.

We continue to support the development of TogetherIreland, a community welcoming initiative, currently being tested in Cahir, Mitchelstown and Fermoy, led by Journalist Graham Clifford.

On Social Inclusion

The Trust co-funded with Cork City Council, the HSE and Cork City Partnership the ‘Cork Evolves’ initiative. In particular, ensuring residents of social housing had their voices heard. We commissioned a series of articles by John O’Shea to bring the discussion from Cork Evolves more into the public sphere.

With Cork City Council and the Housing Agency we commissioned some research by Aideen Hayden & Bob Jordan on the potential for developing mixed tenure communities in Cork. ‘Rebuilding the Irish Neighbourhood’. (see attached for the pdf).

With Cathal O’Connell, from University College Cork we have provided some funding towards the research on ‘Twenty Years of Social Change in Seven Social Housing Neighbourhoods’.

This is the twenty year follow up on an initial piece of research in late 1990’s where a team of social researchers from four universities came together to study social conditions and the impact of public policy on seven local authority housing estates in Ireland.  The estates were revisited in 2007-9 and this will now be repeated in 2019-2020.