Economy 'on mend' says EU group

A European task force is to report on Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's economy is on the mend and performed well in recent years compared to the rest of the United Kingdom, an EU task force has said.

However, the Troubles left scars which have led to underinvestment, dependence on the public sector and a small private sector, a new report states.

European Commissioner Danuta Hübner is to present the European task force's findings in Belfast later.

The body was set up last year by EC President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Its purpose is to indicate how best to profit from EU support available until 2013.

Northern Ireland has received about 2.5bn euros in regional support from Europe over the past 20 years.

However, Northern Ireland no longer has Objective One status - the term given to regions of the EU which qualify for the most support from Brussels.