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Economic Impact
By PATRICK RUCKER
BELFAST — He did not know it at the time, but when David Fairley bought his two-bedroom apartment on Belfast's Lagan River, he was entering one of Europe's hottest housing markets. In three years of ownership, Fairley's property has doubled in price and is now worth almost the equivalent of USg200,000. "I was completely shocked," Fairley says of the jump in price. "I did not buy it as an investment, I bought it to live in because I liked the view and living near the river."
A booming property market is just one sign of Northern Ireland's renaissance. Record low unemployment, record tourism and record economic growth are a few more. While local politicians wrangle over "decommissioning" and the look of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, Ulster-folk are taking an advance on the province's peace-dividend.
Outside Fairland's window are impressive scenes of prosperity. The £32 million Waterfront Concert Hall on the opposite riverbank recently hosted Tony Bennett, Neil Sedaka and James Taylor. Adjacent are Belfast's twin towers — the region's British Telecom headquarters and 185-room Belfast Hilton. Further along the skyline, new offices and townhouses are wrapped in scaffolding.
For years, the security situation deterred development in Belfast. Fairley remembers growing up during the Seventies when political violence first led to a suburban exodus. "At six o'clock the city center was deserted." Fairley says. "The shudders came down, and it was like a ghost town."
At that time, most of the Lagan was an industrial area. Before Fairley's apartment block was built, a coal heap stood on the site. Tidal flows meant the banks of the shallow river were exposed twice a day, producing an unpleasant odor.
The publicly funded Laganside Corporation began a comprehensive redevelopment plan in the early Nineties. The first project was the Lagan weir — a computerized dam that maintains the river level. That was completed in 1994, around the time of the first IRA cease-fire, and heralded a development boom.
Now, young professionals like Fairley live and play along the banks of the Lagan. Many frequent McHugh's Pub, less than one year old, it is one of Belfast's hottest spots. "People queue up around the building on Friday and Saturday nights," says McHugh's general manager Syd John. "We knew it would be big, but we did not know it would be this big."
McHugh's was built with the help of government development grants. For decades, such public money kept the Northern Ireland economy afloat. The security situation repelled investment, so government spent millions to inflate public sector employment and launched massive subsidies to lure commercial firms to the region — at times with little foresight.
In the biggest funding embarrassment, American entrepreneur John De Lorean was bankrolled £80 million to site his car manu-
facturing plant in West Belfast. It was the late Seventies and unemployment in the area was rampant. The new factory promised over a thousand jobs and the distinction of manufacturing a top of the range sports car.
The plant was built and swiftly went bankrupt. De Lorean had cooked the books and abandoned the plant with creditors close behind. He fled to the U.S. where he later faced drug charges. The De Lorean plant became a monument to colossal, if well-meaning, government folly.
Northern Ireland's Industrial Development Board (IDB) still offers handsome incentive packages but, according to Leslie Ross, an IDB executive, they are not the region's main selling point. A developed infrastructure and high education quality — that is what draws new businesses, Ross says.
While the economy still has a service base, more jobs are in the commercial sector. Information Technology firms are booming and half the foreign firms receiving assistance from the IDB were in high-tech fields such as software development. Many young people who left Northern Ireland in search of work are returning home. Unemployment is at its lowest level in over 20 years.
Now at the former De Lorean plant, French manufacturer Montupet has several hundred employees producing automotive components.
And tourism is growing. Last year saw a marked increase in the number of tourist visitors — up five percent. Northern Ireland Tourist Board spokeswoman Orla Farren hopes that growth will hold. "Northern Ireland is ready for tourism." Farren says. "The number of hotel rooms has doubled over the past four years and tour operators, particularly from the US, are interested in bringing groups here."
The trick, Farren says, is to draw
the nearly 800 thousand American visitors to the Irish Republic, into North Ireland. Right now only a fraction of American tourists are making Northern Ireland a major part of their vacation plans but, Farren hopes, with continuing cease-fires, stability on the controversial issue of traditional marches and political progress afoot, those numbers will increase.
Judy Ramsey of Los Angeles and June Lee of San Francisco have used their summer breaks from teaching to travel the world. This year, it was Ireland. They started at the Galway festival in the Irish Republic two weeks ago but made their way to Northern Ireland. "We did not know what to expect," said Lee, "but we did plan to come to the North."
The pair took a Belfast bus tour through some of the city's more notorious areas which eventually led to the predominantly Catholic Lower Ormeau Road where 17-foot steel barricades stood just last month. The measures were intended to maintain peace during protests by the Protestant Orange Order but for the first time in years, they were not needed. The protest passed without incident. Ramsey and Lee found that encouraging.
"You can read newspapers or textbooks; you can watch TV," said Ramsey, "but it is not until you are actually on the scene that you understand things." And the women were pleasantly surprised, admitting that they had a tainted view of Northern Ireland before they arrived.
So while Northern politicians spent the summer stuck in a mire over decommissioning, David Fairley considered selling his property to turn a quick profit. A summer free from unrest over marches and paramilitary cease-fires intact, there are reasons to be optimistic in Northern Ireland. Political progress is still needed but in the mean time, things are getting better — fast.
Belfast Bids for a Year of Culture
BELFAST — Belfast could be the annual European City of Culture within the next 10 years. Both London and Dublin have the opportunity to nominate a city as the cultural capital of Europe in the first decade of the new millennium. The Republic decides in 2005 while in 2008 Britain submits its nomination.
The European City of Culture was designed to bring Europeans closer together. Since its launch in 1985, it has become increasingly popular, broadening its cultural, social and economic impact as a result of the number of visitors it attracts.
Damien Smith, public affairs officer with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, is confident that Belfast could stand up to the challenges representing the cultural capital of Europe. "The facilities are in place already to host a year of culture here. The Waterfront Hall, the Belfast Festival at Queen's and all the community festivals that take place throughout the city are all prime examples of the wealth of culture that is on offer in Northern Ireland.
"We've been working with the Northern Ireland Film Commission, the Northern Ireland Museum Council and all the other museums and galleries to form a working group where we are hoping to put an arts, culture and heritage proposal to the new assembly."
Drawing on Glasgow, which hosted the European year of culture in 1990, the Arts Council is hoping similar advances could be made in Belfast if the city was to host the event. "Glasgow was completely transformed during its year of culture. It transformed its image from that of a city in decline, with sectarian divides into a thriving city with galleries and theatres of international standards," said Smith.