Irish Minister Praises the Work of Public Achievement

08/07/2010

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs have just awarded funding to Achieve Enterprises - the trading arm of Public Achievement - for a project on the use of 'Stop and Search' powers by the police and their impact on young people. The award follows our highly successful 'Beyond the Margins' project on young people, policing and human rights.

Speaking in Dublin, Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin TD, said: "Among those who will receive a grant is Achieve Enterprises. My Department is pleased to be able to support this innovative new project which will look at young people’s rights and responsibilities around stop and search powers. The programme is designed to improve young people’s relationships with authority and with the police. Achieve Enterprises, a social economy off-shoot of Public Achievement, has a proven record in achieving “buy in” from at risk young people in marginalised communities."

Liz Nelson has just been appointed as the Action Research Assistant for the project, which will work with young people and with the police. The project will also include the creation of a social networking site on justice and policing issues, being built by Patrick Campbell. Watch this space for more information about this exciting new project!

On news of the grant, Paul Smyth, Director of Public Achievement said, "We are delighted that the Department of Foreign Affairs have decided to support this challenging area of our work. It is heartening to see the support the Irish Government is giving to cutting edge community relations projects in Northern Ireland - particularly at a time when our own Education Minister has slashed her budgets in this area, and withdrawn them completely from the voluntary sector".

Photo: Media Panel at the Department of Education's Reconciliation conference, Dublin, 5 and 6 July 2010.

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