Bush says Northern Ireland a success story

By Matt Spetalnick

BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's peacemaking progress is a success story for other areas of conflict and the province is now a good place to invest, U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday.

Last year Catholic and Protestant political foes put aside decades of hatred and agreed to share power in a regional government, cementing a 1998 peace deal that ended 30 years of bloodshed in which more than 3,600 people were killed.

Bush, on the last day of his farewell tour through Europe, said the developments would have been "unimaginable 10 years ago".

"I'm impressed by the progress that is being made toward peace and reconciliation," Bush said outside Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive building in Belfast. "In fact the whole world is impressed."

Bush was flanked by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrilla and member of nationalist party Sinn Fein.

Robinson's pro-British Democratic Unionist Party has pledged to work with Sinn Fein, which seeks a united Ireland, despite tension between the factions.

"Northern Ireland is a success story," said Bush. "Obviously there is more work to be done."

Delegations from Iraq have toured Northern Ireland to learn how peace can work and investment help transform an economy.

"The interesting thing about the progress being made here in Northern Ireland is that it has attracted the attention of societies around the world that wonder whether reconciliation is possible for them," Bush said after his meetings.

He also met Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen and presented a gift to Ian Paisley, who retired as first minister earlier this month. Paisley, a Protestant firebrand cleric, agreed in May last year to share power with foes in the administration.

Bush's short stopover in Belfast passed with little fanfare. Small groups of demonstrators opposed to his visit gathered in Belfast's city centre and outside the gates of the Stormont complex, blasting the U.S. war in Iraq.

PEACE DIVIDEND

McGuinness said Northern Ireland was "one of the most successful peace processes in the world today".

But sporadic attacks by splinter guerrilla groups still continue and pose a challenge.

Northern Ireland hopes a growing peace dividend will attract investment and help bolster stability further. Last month it hosted an international investor conference, strongly backed by Bush. Bill Clinton, then U.S. president, played a major role in securing the 1998 peace deal.