It’s not exactly a stick as such, but one concern to many community groups in Northern Ireland is likely to be the slow but inexorable wthdrawal of high level of funding for economic and community funding in NOrthern Ireland. Sean Farren calls for a balanced approach in the economic dividend which Mitchel McLoughlan believes the British government has already confirmed will be part of a comprehensive deal.Farren:
“A peace dividend for Northern Ireland has to be a balanced package. It should focus on both economic regeneration and tackling deprivation. It also needs to provide encouragement to our businesses to invest in state of the art technologies. It needs to be used strategically so that it boosts growth and delivers long term benefits for all the community”.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty