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The European commissioner for regional policy has said he will do everything in his power to ensure Northern Ireland gets another tranche of peace money.

Johannes Hahn was speaking after a meeting with the first and deputy first ministers at the opening of the new bridge over the River Foyle on Saturday.

The money for the bridge came from the 333m euro (£295.5m) Peace 3 programme.

Commissioner Hahn said he would work towards making more money available.

"I will do everything to make sure that the money will be available in the future," he said.

"But as you might have heard, the British government is not in favour of spending a lot of money on European projects.

"We hope that at the end of the day we will find a positive solution so that all these projects can continue and further contribute to the development of the region."