LONG term unemployment must be tackled effectively if peace is to be consolidated, according to a report published yesterday by the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action.
The report was carried out by Mr David Donnison, Professor Emeritus at the University of Glasgow. "Faltering progress has been made towards peace since August 1994," he said.
"That, in turn, gave a boost to the economic growth that was already under way. But too little was done to demonstrate that peace would bring convincing benefits to people living in the most excluded ghettos.
"There is little hope that people who have the power and prestige that come from wielding weapons will choose less violent ways of pursuing that cause if they see no change...
Despite improvements in the economy, long term unemployment remains a huge problem which threatens everything else that has been achieved Prof Donnison said.
The rate of unemployment in the North is three times that in Britain, the report states. It appeals for the problems of excluded communities to be adequately addressed.