Parsley concerned of IFI shift from economy

7.05.00am GMT Wed 18th Jan 2006

Young Alliance has given a cautious welcome to the International Fund for Ireland's change of direction announced today, but has said the Fund in itself cannot provide the answers Northern Ireland requires. Chairman Ian James Parsley said that integration must be pursued, but it can only be done with the people's consent as expressed at the ballot box rather than with outsiders' money.

Chairman Cllr Ian James Parsley stated: "Although we would clearly welcome recognition from the Fund that the promotion of integration is fundamental to genuine stability in Northern Ireland, there is a real risk in fact that its work could have precisely the opposite effect.

"Too often reconciliation is promoted in fundamentally segregationist terms, with people talking grandly about 'community relations' without a clear understanding of what this means in practice. People have now become fed up with such terms.

"I would also be very concerned at the shift of focus away from the economy. Development of a proper economy, creating wealth rather than creating dependency, is absolutely central to giving people a stake in society. The longer 'reconciliation' and 'community relations' ignore the economy as the basic foundation of an integrated society, the longer people will be driven apart, not together.

"Most of all, integration and stability simply cannot come about without political leadership. It is not foreign governments that need to be persuaded of the need for genuine integration, but the people of Northern Ireland itself. It is not the power of the dollar that will make it happen, but the power of the voter.

"In that context, the Fund has taken a courageous decision but it must reflect that the Alliance Party is the only main party that has a mandate from the people of Northern Ireland itself to pursue the goal of a genuinely integrated society. We agree with the Fund that this is the only means of achieving genuine peace and stability. But we are the only ones presenting this case directly to the people, where it really counts. No matter what the merit of our case, we must all accept that it cannot happen without the people's consent."

ENDS