THE 10th annual report of the International Fund for Ireland, which was published late last week, reveals that since it was set up by the British and Irish governments in 1986, it has assisted 3,400 projects, with aid - from the US, the EU, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Among the projects supported by the fund are:
. the £30 million Shannon Erne waterway, which has stimulated economic activity on both sides of the Border:
. the assistance given to 600 cross community/cross Border groups;
. the conversion of the small business loans scheme into the Emerging Business Trust, leading to the creation of 900 jobs;
. the establishment of the North American Partnership Programme (NAPP) between firms in the southern Border counties and the US, leading to date to the creation of over 200 jobs.
Speaking at the launch of the report, the IFI chairman, Mr William McCarter, said that when the fund began its work in 1986, many areas in Northern Ireland and in southern Border counties were experiencing business difficulties and a low rate of business start ups.
"They suffered not just from high unemployment," he said, "but also from a dependency culture which is the antithesis of enterprise. Through its programme of support and initiatives, the fund has tried to break this vicious circle of economic deprivation with a strategy aimed at helping the communities to help themselves."
Mr McCarter said he believed that the record showed that the IFI had successfully addressed its remit of promoting economic and social advance, and encouraging contact, dialogue, and reconciliation between nationalists and unionists.
The International Found has not been without its critics, notably among unionist politicians, who have accused it of being biased towards projects in nationalist areas.
But Mr McCarter pointed to the findings of a recent report by the British Irish Inter Parliamentary Body, which concluded that the fund had been successful in reaching out to all sections of the community. The report said that the IFI had also succeeded in promoting cross Border business activities, and in promoting economic activity and job creation.
"The committee was impressed," the report said, "by the operation and performance of the fund and the unique role it has developed for itself in promoting reconciliation and economic regeneration in the region.
Mr McCarter said that 10 years after the setting up of the fund, many of the underlying issues had still to be resolved, but the economy of Northern Ireland and the six Border counties was much improved.
"Unemployment has almost halved," he said, "and there is abundant evidence of economic initiative in our rural areas, towns, and villages.
Clones and Coalisland are good examples of the work of the fund, as is BCO, a high technology enterprise which holds tremendous employment prospects forest Belfast."
