- Title: UK: Belfast economy thriving ten years after 1998 peace deal signing
- Date: 8th April 2008
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PETER MCCREADIE, PRINCIPLE OF PRIORY INTEGRATED COLLEGE, SAYING: "It's a hearts and minds thing. People now understand that violence is not the way forward but the communities are not yet integrated at all and I think the only way they will be integrated will be as more and more young people are educated from pre-school onwards so that all those kind
- Embargoed: 23rd April 2008 13:00
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- Topics: Economic News,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA347GTBFRNZ68F3KLVNAWMSZP9
- Story Text: Downtown Belfast buzzes with new life as peace takes hold in Northern Ireland a decade after the Good Friday peace agreement was signed on April 10, 1998. Tensions between Catholics and Protestants are still strained, but, thanks to that historic agreement, new generations offer hope for a more peaceful future.
Ten years on since Northern Ireland's Good Friday peace agreement was struck on April 10th 1998 there are obvious signs that things have radically changed in the province, home to 1 million people.
In the capital, Belfast, the British army no longer patrol the streets and army watchtowers have been dismantled. The economy, once so isolated, is now booming by Belfast standards and it is hard to find a hotel room or a table in the city's top establishments as they are now full of businessmen and tourists, not war journalists.
In Belfast's historic Crown bar, which for decades suffered from being located opposite the Europa hotel dubbed the most bombed in Europe, bar manager Stephen Webb can't believe the changes peace has bought to his city.
"The changes are immense in the last ten years, with the amount of people coming to Belfast now" he told Reuters.
"It's virtually impossible to walk into the city and get a hotel room any given weekend. The amount of cultures from all around the world that come through our doors every day of the week, it's great, fantastic. It's like travelling the world without leaving your front door," he said.
Enjoying a night on the town, 27-year old Colm Moss, said he is delighted at his city's transformation, "We're progressing every day and it's got so much better than it was if you go back ten years ago. Now the city is brilliant."
Crown bar regular, Chris Hadley said tensions have eased in recent years, "Things have changed like, you know, I think a lot of people have relaxed, you know."
Not only are tourists now flocking to Belfast, foreign investment is growing. In the heart of the city a brand new shopping and entertainment centre, the Victoria Square, boasts a huge glass-domed roof - something that would have been unthinkable during the years the Irish Republican Army (IRA) regularly bombed the city centre.
Global brands have opened gleaming new stores in the 400 million pound Victoria Square centre.
"I think we are on an up," Hugh Black, the centre's manager told Reuters. "There's huge investment in the city, this is obviously a landmark now and this is going to bring, I think, a lot more people to Northern Ireland to see this alone and see what is going on in Belfast."
The Victoria Square created some 5,000 jobs and the city is winning foreign investment from those attracted by government incentives and a skilled workforce.
Despite a global economic downturn, Belfast is doing well and in some sectors is now on a level with many other European cities.
OCO consulting firm recorded that capital expenditure by foreign companies in Northern Ireland rose by 300 per cent in the last year to reach nearly $1billion USD.
Mark O'Connell, CEO of OCO told Reuters there is still a growing appetite for multi-nationals to invest in the province.
"Belfast per se has really caught up a lot in terms of other European cities, by any standard in terms of employment, growth, foreign investment, even the retail evening economy - all those indicators would be fairly positive I would suggest."
Outside of the city centre there are other signs of a country healing itself from decades of violence. Integrated schools which mix Catholic and Protestant students, once unheard of, are oversubscribed.
In the past decade the number of Northern Irish children attending integrated schools has almost doubled, but there is still a long way to go. In 2007 almost 20,000 children were studying in integrated schools, but that is still only 6 per cent of the school-age population, which are still predominantly educated according to faith.
Priory Integrated College transformed into an integrated education centre the year the Good Friday agreement was signed in 1998. It encourages children to talk about their different religious and cultural backgrounds.
Principal Peter McCreadie believes that is the only way Northern Ireland can truly cement the peace.
"It's a hearts and minds thing. People now understand that violence is not the way forward but the communities are not yet integrated at all and I think the only way they will be integrated will be as more and more young people are educated from pre-school onwards so that all those kind of bogeys from the past can be laid to rest."
Catholic and Protestant communities, living cheek by jowl in the poverty-stricken areas of Belfast are still very much divided, there is much distrust between people who've spent years killing each other.
But in a small sign of an easing of tensions, a young Belfast man is making money and raising smiles from being able to joke about the province's troubled past.
22-year-old Protestant David Kerr has named his fish and chip shop "For Cod and Ulster", a play on the Unionist battle-cry For God and Ulster.
The storefront, in a deeply Protestant area of Belfast, features a giant cartoon of once arch enemies, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley. In the cartoon Adams quips with Paisley that at least they can agree on the quality of the fish and chips at For Cod and Ulster.
Poking fun at politicians may not seem like a big step forward, but Kerr said there was no way he could have dreamed of opening the shop just a few years ago. He told Reuters the very sight of cartoon of a Republican politician in a Loyalist area would have been unthinkable.
"The shop just wouldn't have stayed here, it would have been burnt down and now times have changed for the better and I am glad to see we can do stuff like this. It's about time," said Kerr.
The Good Friday Agreement largely ended 30 years of sectarian violence -- the so-called Troubles -- during which more than 3,600 people were killed.
An ensuing power-sharing government of republicans and pro-British unionists, which finally functioned properly May last year has ushered in political stability.
Integration has improved at workplaces and in the city centre, but people say it will be years before they can venture into the strongholds of the other community, walk into a pub and enjoy a drink.
But in the 1720 Kelly's Cellars historic pub, the recent Troubles are put to one side, as musicians play traditional irish fiddle music and regulars tap their toes as they sup Ireland's favourite drink - Guinness. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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