The potential rewards of peace in Northern Ireland were as rich as the cost of violence was severe, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, said in London yesterday.
Addressing the British-Irish Business Network at the Dorchester Hotel, he gave an upbeat assessment of the review of the Belfast Agreement, stressing that the deadlock could be broken without sacrificing principles.
Insisting that political progress and economic prosperity went hand in hand, Mr Mandelson said that the key to economic success was the ability to attract inward investment while promoting local resources within the context of a peaceful and stable future for Northern Ireland. "Peace and stability is within reach and we must grasp it. Northern Ireland's politicians have the chance to show that they are capable of putting the past behind them and working together towards a new future."
He continued: "The only alternative is . . . the politics of always saying no, the politics of always regarding the other side as your enemy - all that has cost Northern Ireland so dearly for the past 30 years. That would be a betrayal of another generation. It would be an unforgivable crime."
If Northern Ireland was to fulfil its potential - not only as the gateway between business in Britain and Ireland, but as a vibrant, ambitious region in its own right - the Belfast Agreement would have to be implemented in full.
But Mr Mandelson said that agreement between nationalists and unionists had to be genuine: "Gone are the days when unionists could impose their will on nationalists. Gone, too, are the days when anyone seriously believes a united Ireland could or should be imposed. All sides now realise they need each other if the future is to work . . . the public has waited long enough for its politicians to deliver. If they do not, no one will spare them blame. There is no going back. We have a chance, if only we can grasp it, to make peace pay."