Peace Programme has made a significant contribution to Moving Northern Ireland Forward, says Nicholson
Ulster Unionist Member of the European Parliament Jim Nicholson MEP said today that over the years the PEACE Programme in Northern Ireland has made a significant contribution to moving Northern Ireland forward.
Mr Nicholson was speaking after a public hearing, in the European Parliament’s Regional Affairs Committee on the PEACE Programme, to assess the work it has carried out since its inception and prospects for the future.
Last week the SEUPB made the first call for applications under the new PEACE III and INTERREG IVA Programmes for 2007 – 2013.
Speaking after the hearing Mr Nicholson said,
“I think it is important to recognise the contribution the PEACE Programme has made in moving Northern Ireland forward. It is easy to find faults with or criticise many of the projects but the truth of the matter is that because of the PEACE Programmes, thousands have had an opportunity to become involved in and be part of a process of reconciliation in the Province.
“It is very unfortunate that Barbara de Brun was unable to present her report on the PEACE Programme at this time. It would have been a good time to have had her report debated.
“The PEACE Programme must now move on to deliver projects which are sustainable and which have the ability to stand alone when European support ultimately disappears. Northern Ireland has come a long way since the start of PEACE in 1995 but still has some distance to travel and it must not be presumed that all Northern Ireland’s problems have disappeared. We still need and require the type of support that the PEACE programme provides.”