Getting Your Money’s Worth: The Peace Process ROI
When I saw an article on Slugger earlier today about the ROI on the Peace Process, I thought it was a badly worded attempt to analyse the Republic of Ireland’s place in the Northern Irish puzzle.
Actually, what Mick was highlighting was that despite millions of pounds, dollars, euros in investment into Northern Ireland (and ultimately toward a lasting peace), our society is as dvided as ever, if not more so, and all that investment is wasted. The piece Mick is referring to is on the New Stateman website.
Perhaps the most telling quote was:
“Compared to the North, the republic got roughly one-third of EU funds made available, but they built a real economy, creating jobs and opportunity. We preferred the less travelled road of building an inter-community infrastructure around what is not there. Despite spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers? money on community relations, we have ended up more polarised than ever before.”
This isn’t a new idea. Peter Hain took serious flack not long ago for suggesting that we’re not paying our way.
Isn’t it true? We’re receiving millions in investment funds and they’re being frittered away on hare-brained schemes while at the same time our politicians fight tooth and nail to maintain division:
Increasingly, the fate of 1.7 million UK citizens is in the hands of two parties that hardly bother to compete with or relate to one another, but seek above all to ensure dominance of their own communities. And the state merely acts as their facilitator.
As someone who is religiously and politically neutral (well, free from the tunnel-vision of Nationalism/Unionism), it bothers me that in this day and age, parties like the DUP and Sinn Fein can railroad our society and carve it up according to their own agenda. It’s a source of constant frustration that ‘real’ politics is a sideshow and sectarian warfare (albeit verbal these days) takes center stage.
It also irks me that much of the funding we receive here is sucked up by cover organisations who have applied for peace funding, but used them in the eternal quest to keep NI segregated.
What’s to be done? Can we change things? Who’s going to listen? Answers please….
The argument for working mutually holds on its own merit because our economies face common challenges, so it makes sense to find regular solutions. Most people are aware that over the next decade between 90 and 100 billion euros is to be spent on the island?s infrastructure. That is an exceptional prospect. We need to plan jointly if we are going to make the most of it.
Otherwise we could be in danger, the largest infrastructural expenditure undertaken will be done back to back with billions spent without organization. We should all do more to get more. Obstacles between North and South have got to be sorted out. A number of of these are exasperating; several could be detrimental but all affecting people in their daily lives.