Missed opportunity

EU funding has failed to address Northern Ireland’s severe structural problems, argues Jim Nicholson, but the country is now in a unique position to offer Europe some peace-building expertise

For those of us who started the process which culminated inthe signing of the Belfastagreement, watching others playing catch-up and accepting the logic of ourposition has been both a vindication and intensely frustrating. We had, intheory, 10 years to maximise and capitalise on the goodwill of the EU and othersupporters. Ten years to build a strong foundation that would have stood us ingood stead to face the economic and social challenges that a post-conflictsociety finds itself having to deal with. This 10 years has, in my opinion,been a missed opportunity.

The latest task force report states that the only hope thatother funds could be available to us would be under research and development.Coupled with insufficient funds in the PEACE programme to meet the needs ofvictims and others, this report has failed to address Northern Ireland’s severestructural deficit where we fell so far behind the rest of Europe because ofterrorist violence. This is not anyone’s fault but the lead political parties’in Northern Ireland,and it is clear that a new approach is needed.

We do need the continued support of the EU but we can onlymaximise this support if we get our act together. While I welcome the fact thatwe now have this task force report that identifies our strengths andweaknesses, we cannot get away from the reality that we require substantialfunds to secure and strengthen Northern Ireland as a place that investors will wantto come and invest their hard-earned cash.

The peace process and the agreement formed a significantchapter in history which attracted the admiration and support of the world. Itis a chapter that is now closed. The next chapter offers a greater challengestill. Northern Ireland isnow in a unique position to give back to Europea lot of the experience we have gained in how to rebuild shattered communitiesfrom the bottom up, the experience of confidence building and understanding howyou rebuild after the conflict years. The people of Northern Ireland are a veryhospitable people, generous in every way and above all else crave a new and brighterfuture. This can only be improved upon by remaining active in Europeand by being prepared to be at the forefront of taking on board newcutting-edge technologies.