Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for the invitation to be involved in the launch of your interface project.
The problems faced by people living in interface areas are a very real concern to the Executive. We want to support research which strives to increase understanding of the difficulties faced by people living in these areas and projects which can improve their lives and the oppotunities open to them.
We believe that this 3 year project will provide a real opportunity for residents and young adults, from communities on either side of interfaces to engage in mentoring and capacity-building work. Only through engagement, discussion and shared learning experiences can new partnerships be developed and mutual understanding and accomodation reached.
The Executive is determined that everyone should have the opportunity to live in a fair and equitable society which is at ease with itself and where everyone can share and enjoy a better quality of life. In order to achieve this, we must ensure everyone has an opportunity to have their say and to shape the future.
Many of you will have heard that the First Minister and the deputy First Minister recently agreed the core of the Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration. A wide-ranging public consultation on the draft programme is likely to begin in June. The consultation will give everyone the opportunity to contribute to our overarching policy of achieving 'a peaceful, fair and prosperous society with respect for the rule of law' and helping to ensure that a better future for all our people becomes a reality.
The recent global economic downturn has been difficult for everyone, but its effects are even more profound for interface communities. The legacy of the past has left the Falls/Shankill/Springfield interfaces among some of the most socially and economically deprived in the city. Research has shown that already there are fewer employment opportunities for people living in interface areas as investors often overlook these areas in favour of other well established ones. We all must try to find new ways to challenge these problems and to make interface areas more desirable to potential investors and so ensure that these areas begin to enjoy the same benefits as anywhere else.
This kind of change needs much more than just the symbolic removal of peace walls. Physical manifestations of segreation cannot simply be removed, we've got to talk to the communities and listen to their ideas, work with them to develop and implement their own ideas for change. This is exactly what this InterAction programme aims to do.
I would like to thank everyone involved in this project for their commitment and for the work which has already been done. To achieve a real and lasting change requires community buy-in. I hope that everyone will support and engage with this programme over the next 3 years. In doing so, significant improvements can be made to the lives of the people living in interface areas.
I wish all of you well in this venture.
