Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, TD, has announced the award of a major contract to The Wheel, the association of community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises. The contract is to publicise EU funding opportunities and to provide a support service to  NGOs, community groups and local authorities to better access European Union funds.

This is envisaged to be a 3-year programme, valued at around €730,000.

On the announcement, the Minister said; ‘It is vitally important that civil society organisations are fully aware of the wide range of possible EU funding opportunities. The Wheel, as National Contact Point, will play a key role to publicise these and to also improve the capacity of civil society to apply for these funding opportunities’.

Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel, added; 'This is a very significant investment in civil society. The programme will give Ireland’s civil society organisations access to funding opportunities and a chance to engage in European affairs. The Wheel has a strong track record for delivering European programmes and we look forward to working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to deliver this project.’

The EU provides funding and grants for a broad range of projects and programmes covering a wide range of policy areas. EU funding can be managed jointly by the European Commission and national authorities, directly by the European Commission or indirectly by other authorities inside or outside the EU, depending on the nature of the funding concerned.

The July European Council agreed a new seven-year budget of €1.074 trillion with substantial funding for Cohesion, CAP, Erasmus, Horizon, migration and asylum, and the EU’s Neighbourhood and Development Instrument.