February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Harry Keaney
A leading Unionist and Republican are this week chasing the Northern Ireland peace dividend — in the U.S.
Sinn Féin vicepresident Pat Doherty and the Unionist minister for enterprise, trade and investment in the new Northern Ireland assembly, Sir Reg Empey, are visiting the U.S. and Canada to promote investment in the North.
On Monday and Tuesday they visited Washington, D.C,. and Boston. Today, Wednesday, they will be in Toronto. On Thursday, they will travel to Denver and then go to San Jose on Friday.
Also in the visiting delegation are Sean Neeson, leader of the Alliance Party; David McClarty, Ulster Unionist, and Dr. Alasdair McDonnell of the SDLP.
The group is eager to portray Northern Ireland as an ideal location for U.S. business to locate.
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"The general message that we’re trying to send out is that Northern Ireland plc is out aggressively seeking investment in the marketplace and everybody — and that means former enemies as well as friends — is pulling together," Empey said.