13 October 2009
Clinton Praises Role of Peace in Northern Ireland’s Prosperity
Washington — The peace process in Northern Ireland has brought its people greater economic progress and stability, says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who pledges that the Obama administration will continue U.S. support for peace measures, including greater economic investment.
Speaking to a full session of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast October 12, Clinton said today’s Northern Ireland “stands as an example to the world of how even the staunchest adversaries can overcome differences to work together for the common and greater good.”
Eleven years after Protestant and Catholic leaders signed the Good Friday Agreement, Clinton said the rival groups have gone far in their pursuit of a lasting peace. “Groups have laid down their weapons. Empty streets are now bustling with activity. And here, in this chamber, men and women who were once sworn enemies work side by side to secure the achievements of recent years, and to deliver a stable, prosperous future for the people you represent.”
The experience of Northern Ireland has also shown how peace helps to promote economic growth and opportunity to the benefit of both sides. “The value of peace is not only the absence of violence. It is also the presence of new opportunities for investment and jobs, for education and health care, and political participation,” Clinton said.
The Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998, was a major step in bringing about a peaceful political solution to decades of violence between Northern Ireland’s Protestant and Catholic communities. It calls for Protestants to share political power with the minority Catholics, and gives the neighboring Republic of Ireland a voice in Northern Irish affairs. In turn, Catholics are to suspend the goal of a united Ireland unless the largely Protestant North votes in favor of such an arrangement.
The secretary said Northern Ireland’s economy “took off” after the signing of the agreement. “Unemployment fell, house prices rose, new businesses flourished,” she said. International businesses have been encouraged to invest under the increasingly stable conditions. The secretary said that since the ceasefires of the 1990s, the number of U.S. corporate investors had increased by 150 percent, and U.S. investment alone has created 20,000 jobs in Northern Ireland since 1994.
“Our businesses have long been interested in investing, but it was your commitment to peace that finally made it possible,” she said.
Clinton urged the assembly to enact “smart reforms” such as investments in health, education and job training, as well as trying to attract more foreign investment as a means of protecting and strengthening Northern Ireland’s economic well-being in the face of the global economic downturn.
“It is critical, in this moment of economic turmoil, to protect the progress you have already achieved, and to build upon it, to ensure that your people continue to enjoy the rewards of peace, and to embrace it for the long term,” she said.
The United States is “committed to helping you finish your journey,” she told the lawmakers, including efforts to provide greater economic opportunities. “We intend to increase our economic engagement,” including more business-to-business collaboration between U.S. and Northern Irish companies.
Clinton also mentioned the political process, particularly the issue of devolution, which is the diplomatic term for the reinstatement of Northern Ireland’s home rule under a power-sharing arrangement in the Good Friday Accord.
Ultimately, the decision to implement the 2006 St. Andrews power-sharing agreement and give Northern Ireland its complete home rule is “a decision for this assembly to make,” Clinton said. “We know what it means to be supportive. And we also know what it means to meddle.” Devolution is being held up over a dispute about when judicial and police powers would be transferred from the United Kingdom.
“My hope is that you will achieve what you have set out to do, to complete the process of devolution. And I am confident that, together, you can go forward and harness the exciting human and economic potential that Northern Ireland has to offer,” she said.
The secretary praised the people of Northern Ireland for not allowing the March killings of a Northern Ireland police officer and two British soldiers to allow their community to return to violence. In reaction to the murders, Protestants and Catholics “marched together in vigils, attended interfaith services, and declared with one voice their refusal to go back to the old ways, and their insistence on looking to a brighter future,” she said.
“The killings could have been the start of a backward slide. Instead, they proved to the world and to each of you how far you have come,” the secretary said.
