Thursday marked the official inauguration of the RAISE initiative in Lisburn. Three schools in one of the target locations were visited by Stormont counterpart Paul Givan and Education Minister Norma Foley.

The Shared Island Fund of the government is used to finance the project. It will provide a variety of educational assistance services in fifteen Northern Ireland locations.

The €24 million will be invested over the course of the next two years, and additional funding may be forthcoming.

"I am delighted that the Irish Government has been able to support this initiative through the Shared Island Fund as part of our wider long-standing cooperation with the Northern Ireland Executive on education attainment issues," said Minister Foley.

According to Mr. Givan, there has been a long-standing issue with educational underachievement and it is associated with economic hardship.

"The RAISE programme offers an important opportunity to look afresh at the issues caused by deprivation and to drive forward a whole community, place-based approach to remove the barriers to learning and educational achievement that many of our children and young people are facing."

Other initiatives, such as arts-based projects and teacher cross-border information sharing, will supplement the RAISE effort.