G8 summit: UK is fairly indifferent about Northern Ireland, says Cameron

From the BBC:

The road to a lasting peace in Northern Ireland is "less urgent now than it has ever been", the British Prime Minister has  said.

David Cameron, on his first official visit to NI, addressed a gathering at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, ahead of the G8 summit in County Fermanagh. There was "even less to lose now" than ever before and he vowed that the UK would no longer fall into the trap of backing those who pretend to have chosen "the path to peace".

He was accompanied on his visit to Belfast by his wife, Samantha, and children Nancy, Arthur and Florence. Mr Cameron told the audience of young people and dignitaries that he had not particularly wanted to come to Northern Ireland, describing it as a place of "unremarkable appearance and depressing history".

He said Northern Ireland was "part of an island about which tens of millions of Britons couldn't really care less".

"If there's one thing on which Conservative and Labour wholeheartedly agree, it's that we are now as indifferent as the Irish themselves about a peaceful and prosperous Northern Ireland," he said. "And as all of you know well, for all two-steps-forward-one-step-back games you've been playing, there's still as much work to do now as there was a century ago.

"We still haven't reaped the rewards of peace and we are no longer convinced that the effort is worth it. There are still wounds that haven't been inflicted yet, and communities where tension and mistrust will forever hang in the air. And by God, don't imagine that the rest of the UK is one community which views the whole Northern Irish situation with plenty of mistrust.

"There are walls that still stand - despite the rioters' best efforts - and there are still miles to go. So in future, can you go crying to the Americans instead please? I've heard that Obama still goes for this statesmanship bullshit."