Open for business

Once known for all the wrong reasons, Northern Ireland now seems ready to turn from the past to face the future, says Sarah Collins

At the end of April, Northern Irish first minister IanPaisley put his name to the document that, 10 years before, he had called“treacherous”. That he saw it as more of a charitable gesture than a politicalmove – the copy of the historic Belfast (or Good Friday) agreement will be putup for auction to benefit a local children’s tennis club – is second to thefact that it’s another step in the direction of accommodation and away from thesectarianism that has blighted the Irish region for centuries.

Northern Ireland has indeed come a long way, and it’sno more evident than in the shift in focus within the country. There has beenan almighty push for investment, especially in the last year since Paisley sat down in government with his erstwhile enemy,Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness. Their partnership should come to fruition withthe US/NI investment conference at the beginning of May – which might well be Paisley’s last stand, after announcing in February thathe would step down this year. First minister and deputy first minister havebeen courting US business interests in a last drive to boost attendees at theconference, and although EU aid of €1.1bn has been promised to the region overthe next six years under various programmes focusing on research, growth andjobs, Northern Ireland’ssights are also firmly set on its transatlantic neighbours. The ChuckleBrothers – as Paisley and McGuinness are jokingly called in the press – havejust secured the largest ever US public investment in the country, a 0mprivate equity fund from New York.Paisley said at the time: “Northern Ireland has turned a corner. We are now asound investment location that can provide the right calibre of people andprojects to successfully underpin further inward investment, particularly fromthe US.”

The EU, for its part, is delighted with the corner thetroubled region has turned. Commission president José Manuel Barroso waxedlyrical about its progress when Paisley and McGuinness visited Brusselsin January – for him, Northern Ireland is a homegrown (or EU-grown)“example to the world on how to succeed in promoting peace and reconciliation”.For his colleague, regional policy commissioner Danuta Hübner, there’s a newdynamic in Northern Ireland.Not only is the Democratic Unionist first minister stepping down, but recently Republic of Ireland prime minister Bertie Ahernannounced his resignation, leaving his finance minister Brian Cowen to take upthe reins in May. Cowen will now be dealing with Paisley’sreplacement, Peter Robinson, in a shift that Hübner sees as a positive one. Sherecently met with the two politicians and found them to be very clearlycommitted to maintaining momentum in the peace process.

The EU has high expectations for Northern Ireland, and won’t see itresting on its laurels when it comes to funding. A report from the Northern Irelandtask force (NITF), a Barroso initiative put in place last year, has just beenreleased, setting out recommendations on how the country can better use EUfunding. As is the case with most post-conflict economies, Northern Irelandis suffering the scars of a small labour force, under-investment ininfrastructure and a dependence on public sector jobs. Hübner wants to “helpremove the obstacles facing Northern Ireland in taking part in a range ofEuropean programmes and initiatives to create growth and jobs”. In a releaseafter the launch of the NITF report in April, she said, “Northern Irelandis now ready to change status from a region receiving EU aid to that of aplayer in the development of the EU policy agenda.”

The road ahead is not all sunbeams and rainbows, of course.The Chuckle Brothers may be a fun moniker in media circles, but the shadow ofold ghosts is raised when it comes to sensitive issues like policing and avictims’ commission. The chief constable of the police service of NorthernIreland (PSNI) was recently quoted in the Irish Times as saying that a “tribal”dimension is appearing in meetings of the policing board, which oversees thePSNI and is partly made up of members of the Northern Ireland assembly. And justat the end of April, Paisley and McGuinness’soffice announced that further delays would plague a legislative proposal for avictims and survivors’ commission after a row erupted between Sinn Féin andother political groups over the appointment of a chief commissioner.

Despite partisan politics, this executive looks much morestable than the last, which was suspended by the British government in 2002.That one had lasted just over two years, although with several stops and startsin between. With the one-year anniversary of the reopening of Stormont’s doorsaround the corner (the date being 8 May, during the US/NI investment conferenceand two days after Ahern steps down), Northern Ireland seems in a much betterposition than it has been for years. The country has even suggested a centrefor peace studies be established, and the EU has “responded positively” to theplan (although no money yet). And Northern Irish MEPs seem to be in generalagreement that they can and will do more to use the EU funds on offer. Open forbusiness? It seems so.