A cross-border funding group which provided close to £900,000 to ‘peacebuilding’ organisations linked to leading loyalist Winston Irvine has refused to say whether it will continue to fund them after he pleaded guilty to firearm charges.
Irvine (49), of Ballysillan Road in north Belfast and Robin Workman (53) of Shore Road in Larne, Co Antrim, were due to go on trial on Monday at Belfast Crown Court in front of a judge sitting alone without a jury.
However, following legal discussions, both men entered guilty pleas that they possessed firearms and ammunition in suspicious circumstances.
All of the offences were committed on June 8 2022. Irvine is due to be sentenced in January 2025.
More than 300 people attended a major conference on protestant, unionist and loyalist cultural expression organised by Irvine on behalf of the Building Cultural Networks group in May of this year, while he was on bail for the firearms charges.
BCN is an arm of the ACT Initiative, a group set up on the Shankill Road to help with the “civilianisation” of former UVF members.
The organisation has received close to £900,000 in funding from the International Fund for Ireland, a cross-border body set up to fund peacebuilding activities on the island of Ireland.
The IFI was asked whether it would continue to fund BCN and the ACT Initiative following the guilty plea entered by Irvine.
A spokesperson told the Irish News it was “aware” a named individual has been involved with projects funded by them.
“The individual named in recent media coverage is not and has never been an employee of the IFI,” the spokesperson said.
“We are aware that the individual has been involved with projects and groups that have been supported under IFI programmes.”
When pressed on whether the IFI would take any action in relation to funding provided to BCN or ACT while Irvine was still involved with the organisations, the IFI did not make any further comment.
Earlier this year, the funding organisation said in a statement it provides funding to “organisations” and not individuals.
The Irish News also asked both BCN and ACT whether Irvine would continue to be employed by or involved with either organisation in the wake of the guilty plea. Neither responded to requests for comment.
