The recent unemployment figures which show that the ward which covers the Lower Cliftonville, Newington, and Lower Cavehill communities stands at 24.7%, nearly four times the Belfast average and more than three times the six-county average.

The IRSP's North Belfast representative, Paul Little, said:

"For the last few years, we have seen funding and enterprise being channelled into surrounding electoral wards in North Belfast, including a major development to revitalise the Crumlin Road. All this is well and good, but here we have the worst unemployment figures in the whole of the city.

"The fact that the Waterworks ward, which is most extensively working class Nationalist, has high levels of multi-deprivation and is one of the areas that suffered the most over thirty years of conflict and is not receiving the funding or development that it requires is a disgrace."

In conclusion, the IRSP representative said:

"We are demanding that urgent funding be allocated to these communities to allow them to develop both a strong economic base and a sound community infra-structure. These communities have suffered disproportionately over the years. They have good ideas, and plenty of energy and commitment. All they require is funding; not sympathy or hand wringing from the agencies charged with resourcing deprived communitites.