BELFAST BRIEFING:Politicians who would not celebrate St Patrick's Day at home are happy to travel to the US for it, writes FRANCESS McDONNELL
WHEN DID St Patrick’s Day become a certified excuse for Northern Ireland politicians to travel en masse to the US, ostensibly on a quest for new investment dollars?
Maybe it was one of the unwritten agreements in the peace process, but the annual exodus to the US by senior politicians to take part in St Patrick’s Day celebrations is fast becoming a tradition.
This year is no exception with at least five of the North’s Ministers involved in a three-city trade mission to Chicago, New York and Washington DC.
The irony is that some of these politicians would not celebrate the day in question on home soil. But they will happily travel thousands of miles in the hope of persuading US corporations that we can all play nice in the North when it comes down to securing new investment.
St Patrick’s Day is a major public relations opportunity to promote Northern Ireland as an investment location.
First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness intend to leave potential investors and political leaders in the US in no doubt of the benefits of investing in the North. They are engaged in a hard sell to convince companies that Northern Ireland has, in McGuinness’s opinion, “the local talent and expertise to build and grow their businesses”.
Northern Ireland Ministers are not above playing the sympathy card when it comes to winning US investment. As the ink dries on the cross-party deal to devolve policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland, where better to pull the heart strings of corporate America than in Washington, with the powerful symbol of the Lincoln memorial in the background?
Today, McGuinness and Robinson will demonstrate in Washington that they are living proof of Abraham Lincoln’s theory that you destroy your enemies when you make friends of them.
Both men are taking part in a series of engagements in Washington, including a business briefing on Northern Ireland to key members of the US business community. They are also due to meet US secretary of state Hillary Clinton before going to the biggest party in town tomorrow at the White House, hosted by US president Barack Obama.
Speaking last week in Belfast, the US economic envoy to the North, Declan Kelly, said Northern Ireland was “standing on the verge of an unprecedented opportunity” to build a better economic future.
Kelly said recent acts of violence in the North such as the car bomb left outside Newry courthouse were “not having any impact on people’s confidence in Northern Ireland or its merits as a location for transatlantic trade or inward investment”.
He said the things companies want to know about Northern Ireland before they invest are: what incentives would make it economically attractive; how much does it cost to operate in the North; and would they be guaranteed access to the best talent?
Kelly said he believed international investors were sophisticated enough to see that Northern Ireland was a location with good answers to those three key questions. But he also had a warning for the North and its political leaders. “Make no mistake, the future is now. This is the time for action,” he said.
“You must harness the goodwill that exists around the world for Northern Ireland at this moment, and start a new chapter in Northern Ireland’s history.”
Politicians from the North who are stateside this week know time is running out for them to deliver the economic rewards of the peace process. There have been countless promises of US investment which in reality have not materialised.
Two years ago, four New York pension funds pledged to invest $150 million (€110 million) in the Emerald Infrastructure Development Fund – not one cent has been spent on the ground in the North.
Just before he left on his latest US visit, McGuinness said he had “no doubt that, as with previous trips, this trip will lead to investment and the creation of jobs in the future”.
Time will tell.
