Cork City is currently twinned with six cities 1958 Coventry, UK  1982 Rennes, France 1984 San Francisco, USA 1988-Cologne, Germany 1994 Swansea, Wales and 2005 Shanghai, China. Projects involving organisations or activity in Cork’s partner cities of Wuxi, Hangzhou and Shenzhen are also eligible for consideration under this grant.

The grant is intended to encourage the development of long-lasting and mutually beneficial international links between organisations based in Cork and its twin cities.

Speaking ahead of the launch of this year’s grant, Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kieran McCarthy said: “The twinning grant has funded a vibrant range of activities over the years, which have served to enhance and deepen our sporting, cultural, educational and people-to-people links internationally. I encourage interested organisations to reach out to our International Relations Office and submit an application.”

The office is on hand to answer any questions on the application process and can be reached by email at international relations@corkcity.ie Applications must be submitted online here. The closing date for submission of application forms is Tuesday 5 March (at 5pm).

The twinning or sister city concept, developed in Europe following the Second World War, was seen as a way of removing old enmities which had developed in the war years. It has now grown to such an extent that it covers not just the European mainland, where it began, but also the UK, Ireland, USA, Asia, Africa and beyond.