Northern Ireland politicians must do more to end the bitter sectarian divisions which remain in their society, the British prime minister has insisted.
David Cameron told the Stormont Assembly that he was depressed at the increase in so-called “peace walls” and disappointed that Protestants and Catholics often lived segregated lives.
He said it was now time for the parties to “move beyond the peace process” and to build a shared future.
But he warned that “the days are over” when cash from London could be sought to solve every problem.
The prime minister praised the success in ending the large-scale violence of the past and vowed government would take a role in healing wounds, but he also challenged paramilitary groups such as the IRA to play their part.
However, his speech was dominated by calls for the Assembly to begin to deliver on policies to improve the lives of ordinary people.
“Being an advocate of Northern Ireland, and wanting to see it progress, does not mean remaining silent on the problems that remain, and the responsibilities of the members of this Assembly,” he said.
“I think I have a duty to give you my honest view.
“Whether you serve here as a minister, a member of a committee or as a backbench member, all of you carry the responsibility over the next four years of delivering real improvements to people’s lives.
“Politics here is now more stable than for over a generation.
“But, as the institutions mature people, will look for more than survival - there is now an ever greater expectation of delivery.”
Mr Cameron went on: “A crucial area where I believe we need to move beyond the peace process is in tackling the causes of division within society here.
“Given the history of Northern Ireland, I don’t for a minute under-estimate the scale of the challenge.
“But it is a depressing fact that, since the 2006 St Andrews Agreement, the number of so-called ‘peace walls’ has increased from 37 to 48.
“And it is disappointing that, in too many places, Protestant and Catholic communities remain largely segregated, sharing the same space but living their lives apart.
“According to one survey the costs of division through the duplication of public services alone is around £1.5 billion a year.”
He said such divisions helped sustain those groups that remained wedded to terrorism. And while he said the Executive, led by the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, had drawn up a policy blueprint to tackle sectarianism, it did not go far enough.
“Clearly, more needs to be done,” he said.
“Most of the responsibilities for this, such as community relations policy, are devolved.
“We will support you in whatever ways we can.
“But this is something that’s mainly in your hands.
“I am clear, though, that we cannot have a future in which everything in Northern Ireland is shared out on sectarian grounds.”
He added: “Northern Ireland needs a genuinely shared future; not a shared-out future.”
Mr Cameron said major work was needed to secure economic growth, but also to remove barriers to creating a shared future in a society which remained deeply divided.
“By the end of this Parliament, the Northern Ireland resource budget will have gone down by 6.9 per cent or 1.7 per cent a year, far less than the 8.3 per cent UK average, or the cuts to most departments averaging 19 per cent.
“And Northern Ireland continues to receive 25 per cent more per head in public spending than England.
“But the days are over when the answer to every problem is simply to ask the treasury for more money.
“That applies here as much as it does in other parts of the UK.”
First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness had earlier detailed their desire to make continued progress, but said Mr Cameron’s Government had obligations which it also had to live up to.
Mr Robinson said: “We had the chance today to talk about how we normalise society in Northern Ireland, the steps that we are taking, how we can deal with disaffected young people, how we provide for people in Northern Ireland even in light of the economic constraints that we have.”
The First Minister later rejected suggestions that the Stormont administration was being accused of “begging-bowl politics”, and he said the very reason the devolved government sought control of its own corporation tax was to help build its own revenue source.
Mr McGuinness also cited existing pledges by London to invest in Northern Ireland’s neglected infrastructure.
The Deputy First Minister said: “From my perspective, even though people do say things publicly, in the privacy of the meeting whenever I challenged David Cameron on the issue of the agreement we had with Gordon Brown and the previous administration in relation to the £18 billion up until 2017, he did say that they would stand over that and that he would keep his promise.
“I noted that, in the course of his contribution, he reiterated how desirous he was of keeping promises. So I hope that he will keep that promise.”
Mr Cameron ended his speech at Stormont pledging: “My door is open when circumstances require it.”
The prime minister added: “Huge strides forward have been taken in Northern Ireland over recent years... It gives you the opportunity now to move on from the politics of endless negotiations, or of the latest political agreement, to making these institutions work to address people’s everyday concerns.”
PA