16/03/2009

Murders Fail To Halt $30m US Investment

There's an early St Patrick's Day celebration stateside as news of a $30m US-backed investment in Northern Ireland is revealed.

The cash is to be made available for potential investment by the New York state retirement fund.

The state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who handles the pension funds of public workers from New York, made the announcement on Monday, saying that he was impressed by NI's "highly skilled workforce".

Speaking in the Big Apple, Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (pictured) said it was a "massive vote of confidence" in the peace process.

The Sinn Féin politician is in America with First Minister Peter Robinson, who is today visiting Chicago.

The DUP Leader is holding separate talks with US firms that employ people in Northern Ireland.

The two leading NI Executive politicians will then join US representatives and the Taoiseach Brian Cowen in Washington DC for a series of St Patrick's Day events hosted by President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden.

In advance of today's funding announcement, Mr McGuinness said that despite recent dissident murders people in the US understood there was opposition to groups derailing the peace process

See: Cowen In Business At NY

(BMcC/JM)

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