Major US investment may create hundreds of jobs

The North is set to receive major US investment creating potentially hundreds of jobs, it was revealed tonight.

Details of the high-profile project are yet to be unveiled, but the dramatic move is being seen as a vote of confidence in the peace process despite the delays in devolving policing and justice powers to the Stormont Assembly.

The planned announcement comes only days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met unionist and republican leaders in Belfast for talks.

Mrs Clinton praised the power-sharing government led by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin as a positive example to other regions struggling to overcome conflict.

She also used her visit to encourage the parties to bolster the peace process by agreeing a final deal on devolving responsibility for policing and justice from Westminster to Stormont.

Unionists and republican politicians have pledged to take on responsibility for overseeing the North's justice system, but have clashed on how quickly the move can be delivered.

Mrs Clinton said the US remained in support of the peace process and predicted that greater political stability would pave the way for further international investment.

The planned jobs announcement is understood to be linked to a high-profile project, details of which will be unveiled within days.

The move comes after Stormont politicians have spent years lobbying American political and business leaders to invest in the North.

In 2007 the then Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader and First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Féin, made the historic decision to lead their parties into a joint administration.

America was the scene for some of the most striking images of the early days of the partnership, when the former political enemies were repeatedly pictured together as they met a series of high-profile US figures.

Both Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness are said to have impressed their American hosts by their decision to show a united front despite the concerns of some of their grassroots supporters.

In May 2008 the US-Northern Ireland Investment Conference brought industry leaders from 80 American companies to be briefed on investment potential on these shores.

And by the end of that year, Mr McGuinness, together with the newly installed DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson, held the first of a further series of US visits to argue the case for inward investment.

In recent weeks the DUP and Sinn Féin have been locked in negotiations with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on devolving policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont.

Republicans are keen to see the Assembly take on responsibility for the North’s justice system, but the DUP has faced pressure from hard-liners to postpone agreeing a date for the move.

Mr Robinson said getting a financial package to fund the police and court budgets was vital and, in the run-up to Mrs Clinton’s arrival last Monday, a package was hammered out in talks at Downing Street.

Mrs Clinton met business leaders during her series of Belfast engagements.

She noted that the North had escaped the worst ravages of the global economic downturn and credited the relative success on its educated, highly skilled workforce.