The National Millennium Committee is busy spending its £33 million (€41.9 million) budget on a variety of projects throughout the Republic.
Environmental proposals have received the majority of the cash (£9.5 million), closely followed by social (£7 million) and community (£6 million) programmes.
Some of the more interesting initiatives include the Liffey Boardwalk (£1.5 million) which is currently under construction along the capital city's river. The People's Millennium Forests (£2 million) is the largest ever planting of native Irish trees. At present, the Coillte nursery in Wicklow houses the final seed plantings of the 1.2 million trees.
Primarily oak, the trees represent every household in the Republic. Each home will receive a certificate by post informing it where its tree is planted in one of the 14 designated forests. Citizens are invited to come and identify the location of their tree at a later date.
Most of the social funding was provided to the Children's Hour (£2 million) and the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire (£1 million).
The remainder assisted a number of charities from the SHARE Day Care Centre in Cork to the Missing Persons Memorial in Kilkenny.
Community groups benefited from £3 million in millennium events awards and £3 million for millennium recognition awards. GreenTown 2000 received funding of £150,000.
The Irish Seal Sanctuary received £3,000 towards the rescue, care and widely-publicised release of a seal named Brigid at Cullenstown Strand in Wexford.
