8 May 2008
Transcript of a speech given by the Prime Minister at the NI-US Investment Conference.
Read the speech
Ian Paisley:
Well we count ourselves very highly honoured to have our own Prime Minister with us and also the Taoiseach of the Irish Republic and we are very grateful to the Americans, the people and especially those who are in big business who gave up of their time to attend this conference. This conference has been a success, by attendance, it’s been a success by the number of businesses represented, it has been a success by how much money that has already been declared to be invested and it is also, this is the most important thing, a success because we have had so many applications from people to say that we would like to talk further and come back when the dust is down and visit Northern Ireland and see for themselves. So we are greatly encouraged and we’re grateful to our Prime Minister who put this before us and said this is what we should do and it certainly has been a success and will be a greater success, I believe, as the seed that we have got is sown and brings forth, I trust, much fruit.
Martin McGinness:
Well this has been, in my opinion, a hugely successful conference with a very large turn out from the United States of America and our conference has been enriched by the presence of the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister and I want to take this opportunity to extend my heartiest congratulations to the Taoiseach on becoming Taoiseach yesterday and for coming here on the first full day in his job, and also to Micheal Martin, the new Minister for Foreign Affairs. These are different times, it’s a year on, we have made huge progress in laying solid foundation stones over the course of the last number of months, politically speaking. We are now setting down I believe firm foundation stones to build the economy so that we can increase the economic prosperity of the people that we represent. And that’s what people want. This process will fail if it doesn’t raise all boats and if it doesn’t use the wealth that the successful economy will provide to ensure that we tackle head on social deprivation and poverty which afflicts all of our people right across the community. So these are heady times, but I think the progress that we have made has been remarkable and I think that has been down to hard work on behalf of many, many people and we’re now joined by a new Prime Minister, a new Taoiseach. I extended earlier today our deep appreciation to both Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, and we do think of them on this day, but we now have a new team in charge and I think we now are working with a Taoiseach and a Prime Minister who are equally committed to ensuring the success of this process and committed also to ensuring the economic success of this region for the foreseeable future.
Gordon Brown:
Ladies and gentlemen the sun is shinning on Belfast today and we’re able to celebrate the successes as we approach the anniversary of a year since the institutions of both the Executive and the Assembly were restored. And I want to thank First Minister Ian Paisley and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness for the work that they have done over the last year to build stability in Northern Ireland and to build a successful economy. And I’m delighted to be here also on his first full day in office, with the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and with Foreign Minister Martin to thank them for their contribution to this process and to this conference today. This is the biggest and most successful Investment Conference that has ever been held here in Belfast and in Northern Ireland. We have managed to attract, from the United States of America, some of the world’s best and biggest companies and we have had support from all over Europe for the endeavour that we are embarking upon today. Our aim is nothing less than to build long term prosperity for the economy of Northern Ireland and the building blocks that have been put in place by the work of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, and the Executive, over the last year are a commitment to stability, investment in infrastructure that is capable of attracting businesses here to Northern Ireland, a commitment to education and skills for the future that will give any business that invests here a young and qualified labour force and a determination to break down every barrier that is necessary to be broken down so that we have investment for the future. And it is a mark of the success of this conference, even at its early stages, that we have had investments announced by five major firms, by CyberSource, by the New York Stock Exchange, by Bombardier, by the Independent Group of Newspapers and by Bloombergs, and I thank them for their faith in the future of Northern Ireland that has laid them to join the Emerald Fund, which invested £150m only a few weeks ago in Northern Ireland, in making big investments that are guaranteeing the future of Northern Ireland. We will continue to invest heavily in the infrastructure of Northern Ireland, to make it an infrastructure that is capable of attracting more business and more investment in the future and I want to announce today that we will invest an additional £1bn, because we will allow, over the next three years, the Northern Ireland Executive to retain 100% of the proceeds from sales of public sector surplus land and similar assets, up to a new limit of £2.2bn, a doubling of the existing figure, in other words £1bns more and this is an unprecedented deal for Northern Ireland that has not been available in other parts of the United Kingdom and is there specifically to attract the new investment that we need for the future jobs in this area. The growth rate here has been higher than most other parts of the United Kingdom. Unemployment has been falling over the last ten years to half it was in 1997. Investments are coming in and will continue to come in as a result of the efforts today. The follow up for this conference, as Nigel Dodds has said, is further work in America, in all parts of America, to attract businesses here to Northern Ireland and I believe that we are setting in place today the foundations of a long term prosperity of jobs, of higher incomes and, of course, of skilled work that means that the faith that people have placed in the future of Northern Ireland is going to be rewarded by the investments that people are going to make here. And so I thank all the investors as well as the First Minister and deputy First Minister and the Taoiseach for what they have done.
Brian Cowen:
Well first of all can I thank the First and deputy First Minister and their colleagues for hosting us here today. I am of course delighted to be here with the Prime Minister, with whom I have worked over many years, I look forward with confidence to our continuing partnership and the continuing close relationship between our two governments. We have had a very productive session of the Investment Conference this afternoon. We’ve heard a message of hope and of confidence and of determination from political and business leaders from Ireland, North and South, from Britain, from Europe and from the United States. And for my part, I reaffirm the Irish government’s commitment to the peace process, to building prosperity in Northern Ireland and across the entire island of Ireland. I refer to the important investments that we’re making in research and development. I refer to the fact that we have ensured that all parts of the island, the universities in all parts of the island have access to that funding, on the basis of collaboration and co-operation together. I made the point, which I think is impressive to international investors, that under our own national development plan we are committing, speaking to an American audience today, of over $1bn in cross border infrastructural investment and I’ve outlined the ambitions for that North/South investment and the all-island economy under our national development plan. So we are at the beginning of a new era of unprecedented opportunity on this island. We do want to build prosperity across the entire island and my distinct impression, from this conference today, is that everyone is up for that project and that everyone is prepared to try and seize the moment that this momentum of this conference provides.
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