The Communicating Europe Initiative 2026 is now open for applications.

This initiative provides funding to voluntary organisations, educational bodies and civil society groups for projects intended to deepen public awareness of the role that the European Union plays in our daily lives. The Communicating Europe Initiative seeks to improve the quality and accessibility of public information on European issues, at local, regional or national level.

The focus of projects this year is on Ireland’s 2026 Presidency of the Council of the European Union as well as the related County Pairings programme. This pairs counties with an EU Member State, encouraging communities across the country to engage directly with their European partners throughout the Presidency term.

Increased funding has been allocated to the initiative for 2026, with a total of €775,000 available for eligible projects. From this, an allocation of €465,000 will be available to support community-led projects, and €310,000 for programmes by local authorities who wish to support the County Pairings Programme.

Further information at EU Presidency County Pairings announced by Ministers McEntee and Byrne.

The deadline for receipt of applications is 24 March.

It is envisaged that the maximum individual grant awarded will be in the order of €10,000.

Guidelines & Terms for 2026 funding: available at the link below:

 Communicating Europe Initiative Guidelines and Terms 2026

To submit your application and all other relevant documents please note that we are using a grants management platform.

Please register your organisation on the grant application portal at funding.dfa.ie.

Once you have registered, you should complete basic details about your organisation (address, contact information) under “Manage Contacts & Organisation” and start your CEI application.

If you require any assistance please contact us on cei@dfa.ie