BELFAST (AFP) -- Northern Irish residents hope that the revival of the province's semi-autonomous government Tuesday signals a turning point for their economy so that they begin to share in the prosperity enjoyed by their neighbors in the Republic of Ireland.

The inauguration of the power-sharing government between rival Protestants and Catholics in Belfast opens the road for regional institutions, which have been suspended for five years.

Isolated from the rest of Britain and ravaged by 30 years of sectarian violence between unionists and republicans during "The Troubles," Northern Ireland has suffered from a lack of investment and the closure of its heavy industry, which used to be prosperous.

The province's economy made up for some of the lost time, though, in the 1990s as the unemployment rate dropped below five percent of the working population.

But it is still envious of the growth to be found in the south of the island, where entrepreneurs are more numerous and investment is easier to find.

The Republic of Ireland, which used to be a relatively poor country with a economy based on agriculture, has transformed into a prosperous state after its entry into the European Union and has seen its gross domestic product grow at a regular rate of five percent, compared to three percent growth in Northern Ireland in recent years.

With annual income of 11,600 pounds (17,000 euros, 23,100 dollars), households in Northern Ireland are comparatively poor in relation to the rest of Britain.

The province is counting on the development of services, such as finance and tourism, as well as its high-tech industry to catch up with its neighbor to the south. It has also requested financial support from London and Europe to help fund improved infrastructure.

"I and my party will be striving both at Stormont (the Northern Ireland assembly) and Westminster to see Northern Ireland's economy not just become equal to but superior than the Republic's," said Gregory Campbell, an MP for the Protestant Democratic Unionists.

British finance minister Gordon Brown promised an aid package, if Catholics and Protestants agreed to form a power-sharing government. A representative of Protestant leader Ian Paisley, set to become first minister of Northern Ireland, negotiated the details last week.

"In total the package is over 51 billion (pounds) over the next 10 years. This is money that no other part of the UK has been guaranteed the way it is," said Brown.

But Paisley, who said that a good portion of the offer represented funds that were already budgeted for, expressed his dissatisfaction with the offer and threatened to not take part in the power-sharing administration's inauguration Tuesday.

"I want them to get that message. I want them to get the message that this is so serious that we can't possibly do justice to our country if we don't get this," he said, according to the BBC.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who was in Belfast in early May, also promised aid in excess of a billion euros, which would be distributed between 2007 and 2013.

But businesspeople in Northern Ireland would also like to see a cut in corporate taxes, which are currently 30 percent across Britain, to 12.5 percent in the province.

Such a measure could make Northern Ireland as attractive a destination for investors as the Republic of Ireland, which is sometimes accused of being a tax dumping haven.

Gordon Brown, however, does not seem keen on the tax requests.