Up to 86m has been earmarked for town twinning under a new programme designed to promote a stronger sense of European identity. But it seems the vast majority of Irish towns already have a perfect understanding of their European counterparts. A total of 168 towns are twinned with 246 international communities. And for many places, it's not so much a case of twinning as a case of tripleting and even forming quadruplets.

Waiting list With a waiting list of 100 French and Italian centres looking for a partner, Irish towns are spoiled for choice.

"We are getting to the situation where there's only so many towns left to go around, " said Mark Callanan of the Institute of Public Administration. "By and large, most already have a partner and we have seen a drop-off in applications from Irish towns in the last few years. At the same time, we have all these French towns who want an Irish partner and there's nothing much we can do about that."

The idea behind town twinning is that the towns learn more about each other's culture, while also exchanging ideas on enterprise, trade and environmental issues. Twinning peaked in Ireland in the late 1980s and early '90s, with the majority of links being forged around that time, most of them with French towns.

Since then, there is evidence that some of these links have died. Most, however, are still going strong.

The towns of Bundoran and Cashel are two such examples. These enterprising communities have notched up 12 and 11 'twins' respectively . . .quite enough to make any selfrespecting town green with envy. Both towns joined a club of European towns in the '80s and 90s and councillors still travel to events in their twin towns an average of twice a year.

While many towns are twinned through voluntary committees, local authorities are often in favour of twinning their areas with towns on the continent because of EU funding that allows councillors to visit their new friends every summer. However, strict regulations under the scheme mean the EU will not supply travel expenses when more than half the party attending seminars are elected officials.

In these cases, local authorities fund the trips themselves.

Italy Bundoran last hosted a seminar in April 2005. Two councillors travelled to Italy last April and the next trip is scheduled for September.

Three councillors from Cashel travelled to Italy last June while the annual mayors' meeting will be held in France this October.

The latest programme has been approved at European Council level and is set to go before the European Parliament later this year. If, as expected, the programme is approved, local authorities throughout the EU will be able to apply for funding to finance town twinning programmes from early next year.

The funding will come out of the EU's cultural budget and is part of a wider plan to increase mutual understanding among European citizens.

A total of 40% of the 215m budget will be allocated to town twinning projects. Most of the remaining 60% will be divided between public policy research organisations that operate on a European level, and funding artistic events that celebrate European integration.

A smaller amount of money, in the region of 4% of the total budget, will be allocated to the commemoration of victims of European wars and disasters.

As it stands, towns around Ireland are twinned with communities in Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Estonia. Links have also been made with nonEuropean towns in the USA, Australia, Canada and Kenya.

Although there aren't many towns left which haven't found a European friend, it is hoped that there are still some communities interested in town twinning.

"Towns hoping to apply should know that there is no guarantee of success, " said Callanan. "It is a competitive process and there are more [European] applications than there are funds. They will only finance a themed event that involves learning about another community and addressing problems."