A FURTHER £5 million in grants under the European Union's "peace money" programme have been announced by the EU Social Affairs Commissioner.
Mr Padraig Flynn said the money would fund 184 projects in the six Border counties, 58 of which are cross-Border.
The funding is part of the £240 million allocated by the EU in 1995 to Northern Ireland and the Border counties under its Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.
Mr Flynn was speaking in Kiltyclogher, Co Leitrim, which he visited yesterday as part of a one-day tour of projects which have received EU funding.
Earlier, the Commissioner had a meeting with members of the Belfast European Partnership Board, one of 26 district partnerships in the North which receive money under the special support programme.
The partnerships receive funding for plans to promote employment, urban and rural regeneration, social inclusion, investment and industrial development.
Mr Flynn said that more than 4,000 projects will have been approved for funding under the special support programme by the middle of this year. He said he would like to see "the reinstatement of peace in its totality".
In Belfast, Mr Flynn presented 35 participants of the Northern Ireland Hospitality Association's multi-skilling programme with certificates.
He also visited Newry, Co Down, where he opened Ballybot House, a £1.7 million multi-purpose community resource centre, which received £600,000 in funding from the European Regional Development Fund.
At a conference in Cookstown on the future direction of EU social policy, Mr Flynn said the European Commission strongly advocated the inclusion in the EU treaty of anti-discrimination and gender and racial equality provisions.