Bertie Ahern says investors viewed Derry and Buncrana as one ‘unit’, laments lack of peace dividend in Derry

But the former Taoiseach has lamented the fact that parts of Derry have not benefited from a peace dividend in the way he had envisaged 25 years ago.

He said he had hoped that by now, with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement approaching, the peace ‘would have lifted all boats fairly equally’.

Mr. Ahern acknowledged ‘that never happened’ particularly in some parts of Derry.

The former Fianna Fáil leader made the remarks during a recent briefing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

“On all the trips and trade missions I went to...none of the companies ever asked were Belfast and Dublin separate or were Derry and Buncrana separate.

"They saw us as a unit. We would never go in, even in the worst, early days, and say we are not going to help that Northern Ireland crowd. That never happened. I never saw an official or Minister doing that,” he said.

The erstwhile Taoiseach, who was one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, admitted that not all areas of Derry and Belfast have benefited from the peace in the way that had been envisaged by him and others in the late 1990s.

"In terms of growth and development, Northern Ireland has done well but I would have hoped 25 years ago that the rising tide would have lifted all boats fairly equally. That did not happen.

"It is still a challenge. That point applies particularly to some areas, for example in Belfast but also in Derry, where people feel they have not seen the lift they should have seen.

"The United States remains very important because it can still have influence. We need to do that. We want nationalist, republican, loyalist and unionist communities to be able to see the benefits.

"That is a challenge that comes with the Government's work with businesses and trying to give them a break,” stated Mr. Ahern.