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Britain will consider replacing some European Union funding for peace projects in Northern Ireland after Brexit, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister has written an article in the Irish News newspaper as the Government publishes its on the thorny issue of what form the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland will take after Brexit.

The EU has provided billions of euros of aid for the province since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement ended decades of violence, known as the Troubles, between Irish nationalists and British unionists in which 3,600 people died.

"We ... want the EU funding that has helped victims of the Troubles and cross-community groups to continue at least until the current programme finishes," Mrs May wrote.

The Government had earlier committed to guaranteeing funding under the EU's Peace initiative until the current round of funding ends in 2020.

The PM also sought to reassure nationalists living in Northern Ireland that Brexit will not see the UK turn its back on its "unique and special relationship" with Ireland.

She promised that rights enshrined under the Good Friday peace accord, such as the right to claim Irish citizenship, would be safeguarded after the exit from the EU in March 2019.

For her article, she chose the Belfast-based Irish News, a daily paper aligned with mainstream nationalism.

"No one voted to end the special ties between the UK and Ireland or to undermine the unique arrangements between Ireland and Northern Ireland which have underpinned the peace process and have been in place well before our membership of the EU," the PM said.

"I hope people in Northern Ireland and Ireland will see the UK Government is determined to protect the unique arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and the wider relationship between the UK and Ireland.

"Protecting your citizenship rights, and protecting the Belfast Agreement, are at the heart of our approach," she said.