UK ambassador to US will ‘help drive investment’ in Northern Ireland

The UK ambassador to the US has said the embassy will be encouraging investment in Northern Ireland.

Lord Peter Mandelson, who was appointed to the role last month, said it was “tremendous” to see business “flourishing” in Northern Ireland.

The former Northern Ireland secretary said it had developed into a “much more modern economy” since his tenure.

Speaking on Friday, he said that while the people of Northern Ireland were the “binding force” of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, those outside the region had provided the “encouragement, pressure and will to get things done”.

“On both sides of the Atlantic there was, there has, there continues to be a deep determination – the Americans, British, Irish, Irish-Americans, of all traditions – to fulfil the promise of a peaceful and a prosperous Northern Ireland,” Lord Mandelson said at a breakfast event at the British ambassador’s residence in Washington DC.

“It gives me huge joy to see businesses flourishing, new technology start-ups, popping up all over the place, it’s tremendous.

“It’s now a much more modern economy in Northern Ireland than it was in my day. That gives me a lot of pleasure.”

Lord Mandelson said it was “such positive news” that the powersharing institutions had been restored and that his embassy would be encouraging ways to “help bring about” American investment in Northern Ireland.

“There is little doubt that this is a really exciting time to realise even more the potential of Northern Ireland.

“It is a fantastic place in which to live, to work and invest.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said that both Northern Ireland and anglo-Irish relations had undergone “remarkable” change in the past year.

“A lot has happened – that’s the understatement of the year – a lot has happened in the last year,” he said.

“This time 12 months ago, we were marking the restoration of the institutions, and, I must say, you have gone from strength to strength.

“There is now a programme for government, there is a fiscal sustainability plan and there is the work now beginning on the transformation of public services, which is – as the Executive itself recognises – the single most important task, because it’s about the lives of the people of Northern Ireland.

“It’s also been remarkable for the transformation in the relationship between the United Kingdom and the government of Ireland, because from (former premier) Simon Harris’s arrival at Chequers shortly after the election – and the famous picture sitting in the garden with pints of Guinness – to the British Irish Council that took place recently, the warmth that there has been, the change in that relationship after, let’s be frank, a pretty torrid period in recent years has been a wonder to behold.”

Among the other guests present at the event at the UK ambassador’s residence were Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt and PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher.