February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
But we are well used to the vagaries and oddities of the peace process by now.
With luck, nobody is going to go bananas in the next few days and momentum will be maintained towards a restoration of devolved government and meaningful sharing of power.
One particularly interesting development this past week has been the reported intention of the Irish government to help grease the wheels underpinning the St. Andrew’s agreement with a significant financial investment in the North’s infrastructure amounting to, according to the Sunday Times newspaper, well over a billion dollars.
Investment on such a scale has yet to be confirmed by the Irish government. But neither has it been denied.
Either way, it is a good idea. Dublin’s rightful interest in political and economic progress North of the border should not stop with mere words.
And the fact that the Republic now has the wherewithal to put money where its mouth has long been can only be viewed in a positive light.
So why not a road up to Stormont’s front door paid for with Irish euros?
If nothing else it would be a reminder to unionists – indeed news to some of them – that the future of the island of Ireland’s economy is just that: a shared and economically borderless one.