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The
Centre for Cross Border Studies, founded in September 1999
and based in Armagh and Dublin, researches and develops
co-operation across the Irish border in education, health,
business, public administration, communications, agriculture,
the environment and a range of other practical areas.
The Centre is
an independent company limited by guarantee (UK charity no.
XR 31047) and is owned jointly by Queen’s
University Belfast, Dublin
City University and the Workers’ Educational
Association (Northern Ireland). Its principal financial
contributors are the EU
PEACE Two programme, the
Atlantic Philanthropies, the Irish Department of Foreign
Affairs’ Reconciliation Fund and the Joseph
Rowntree Charitable Trust. The Centre also raises a significant
proportion of its income through sponsorship and selling its
research and consultancy services to government and other agencies.
Controversy about
relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
tends to obscure the broad consensus that exists in both
jurisdictions about the value of cross-border co-operation
on practical issues. This holds that the low level of contact
and communication across the Irish border damages the well-being
of both parts of the island, and there is a clear need to
identify and overcome the present barriers to understanding
and co-operation.
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