OUTPOST

The much elusive peace dividend for Northern Ireland society lay the foundations for the U.S.-N.I. Economic Conference held in Washington earlier this week.  Secretary of State Clinton’s remarks at the event epitomised the continual struggle to maintain peace in the region. It comes down to one thing – peace needs prosperity. It was refreshing to see that  the Obama Administration, through the guise of Clinton, have grasped one of the fundamental realities of the Northern Ireland situation. Some hard decisions have been made, but many more are scattered ahead. A point exemplified by her recognition of how

“hard it is to move from an unacceptable reality, but one that is familiar, one that is to some extent comfortable, to take a risk for peace, to cross mental, psychological, even physical divides.”

This snapshot was diluted by an appreciation that peace in Northern Ireland is very much a process, one that is undulating and never static. Here, the conference illustrates the interdependent nature of life in Northern Ireland. An injection of investment, broadly prosperity, compliments and sustains peace. In turn, acting as a deterrent to the emerging (and very real) dissident threat. Providing “paychecks”, or in her husband’s words an opportunity to “clock in”, is one way to counter terrorist organisations:

“we know there are people in Northern Ireland, as there are everywhere in the world, for whom peace exists only as a concept. Dissident groups continue to exploit every chance they get to influence people in those hard-to-reach communities where peace is most fragile. And we need to prove in republican and loyalist communities alike that peace pays off. That means working to bring opportunity to all of Northern Ireland. We cannot continue to isolate any group or any geographic location. We have to increase the credibility of the power-sharing government and maintain momentum behind the peace process.”

The gameplan is clear, peace needs prosperity. The wait for the peace dividend has been too long and it seems, at least, the U.S. are eager to speed up the process. There’s that word again.