Beyond EU Peace II debate begins on funding

The long term value of European aid to community projects in Northern Ireland will only be as good as the quality of the schemes themselves, the Minister of Finance & Personnel, Dr Seán Farren, told an audience in Belfast today.

Dr Farren was addressing the opening conference of a Standing Community Convention on the PEACE II Programme where he reminded delegates of the true scope and purpose of this EU funding package, which he said could be the last of its kind.

The Minister said: "It is vital that as we move forward with the implementation of PEACE II that we look beyond it to what we must do to retain and enhance the good work begun under the PEACE packages.

"We are all only too acutely aware that with the proposed expansion of the European Union, and the transition of Northern Ireland from Objective 1 status, that there is a real possibility that this could be the last contribution from Europe, at least in the forms familiar to us.

"We welcome this support and the Executive will continue to do everything it can to secure further help from Brussels.

"It is important to remember that PEACE II is designed to be a ‘hand-up’, rather than a ‘hand-out’ and it is up to all of us to play our part in ensuring that we use these funds wisely to secure maximum and continuing benefits – beyond the life of the current Structural Funds Programmes."

The Minister pointed out that sustainability is one of the fundamental principles underlying the PEACE II Programme.

He said, although there was not yet a full definition of sustainability, the debate was a vital one for the whole of Northern Ireland.

(SP)