Background

The ‘Ending the Harm’ public awareness campaign is only one aspect of a much wider programme of work and investment under the Executive’s Programme on Paramilitarism, Criminality & Organised Crime.

 

The overall aim of the Programme is to ensure that people and communities are safe from the harm caused by paramilitary gangs, and supported to be more resilient to paramilitary influence and control.

The Programme has operated since 2016 and is funded jointly by the NI Executive and UK Government. Phase 1, which ran to March 2021, focused on delivering 38 wide-ranging commitments in the original Executive Action Plan on paramilitarism, criminality and organised crime.  A comprehensive review of the Programme took place in 2020, leading to a new phase of the Programme (Phase 2) that started in April 2021. The Programme is currently funded until 2024.

Timeline of events 2015-2021

A Fresh Start- The Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan, 2015

The Fresh Start Panel Report on the Disbandment of Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland, 2016

Phase 1 Interim review
of the Programme
2020