Northern Ireland and the UK since the Good Friday agreement

1999 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Duffy ◽  
James Dingley
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
The Uk

The Future of British–Irish Relations after Brexit

2020 ◽  
pp. 254-273
Author(s):  
Etain Tannam
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Sectarian Violence ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
Potential Methods ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

This chapter assesses the impact of UK withdrawal from the EU on British–Irish relations. It examines yet another possible disintegrative effect of Brexit on the UK system, namely the re-unification of Ireland. The 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, bringing to a close decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, had created an excellent working relations between Dublin and London. However, Brexit has threated this equilibrium, and has unexpectedly brought back on the agenda a possible border poll. The chapter then looks at the unfolding of the Brexit negotiations from June of 2016 to March of 2020 from the perspectives of British–Irish relations. It also studies the importance of the British–Irish relationship and the EU in the peace process in Northern Ireland, and considers potential methods of managing the relationship after Brexit.

Constitutional Policy & Territorial Politics in the UK Vol 1

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Bradbury
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
New Labour ◽  
Early Maturity ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Initial Settlement ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
Territorial Politics ◽  
The Uk

This is the first of a two-volume work which provides an authoritative account of devolution in the UK since the initial settlement under New Labour in 1997. This first volume meets the need for a comprehensive, UK-wide analysis of the formative years of devolution from the years 1997 to 2007, offering a rigorous and theoretically innovative re-examination of the period that traces territorial politics from initial settlements in Scotland and Wales and the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland to early maturity. The book reviews the trajectory and influencing factors of devolution and its subsequent impacts, using a novel framework to set a significant new agenda for thinking and research on devolution.

‘Slow learners’? Comparing the Sunningdale Agreement and the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hennessey
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Slow Learners ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
Ministerial Council ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

This chapter compares and contrasts the 1973 and 1998 Agreements that, on the face of it, are remarkably similar: both involve power-sharing and an institutional link between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The phrase ‘Sunningdale for slow learners’, attributed to Seamus Mallon, masks a misunderstanding of the fundamental differences between the two Agreements. The former Agreement looked to establish a Council of Ireland with executive powers that had the potential to evolve into an embryonic all-Ireland government; the latter Agreement established a consultative North-South Ministerial Council with no executive powers that could not evolve into a united Ireland by incremental moves. This was the key to Unionist acceptance of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in comparison to Unionist rejection of the Sunningdale Agreement. In constitutional terms the GFA was a Unionist settlement that secured Northern Ireland’s position within the United Kingdom, recognised British sovereignty in Northern Ireland and established that a united Ireland could only be achieved on the basis of the principle of consent. In contrast the Sunningdale Agreement was, in constitutional terms, a Nationalist settlement that did not recognise Northern Ireland was part of the UK and attempted to bypass the principle of consent by establishing powerful North-South bodies. The chapter argues that the only thing the two Agreements has in common was a power-sharing element for the government of Northern Ireland.

Brexit and the Northern Ireland Question

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Doyle ◽  
Eileen Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
The Common ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Policy Solutions ◽  
The Eu

This chapter analyses the potential impact of Brexit on the Northern Ireland ‘peace process’, through a discussion of four interrelated issues—political divisions in Northern Ireland; the single market; the common travel area; and the Good Friday Agreement, all of which reflect the fundamental political divisions between Irish nationalists and those who believe that Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK. The chapter highlights two main threats to peace – the undermining of the Good Friday Agreement which is premised on membership of the EU and its institutional framework, and the crucial issue of where the inevitable hard border between the EU and the UK will be located. It argues that Brexit has the potential to destroy the peace process and suggests possible policy solutions to mitigate the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland, while also assessing the political obstacles to the adoption of such flexible policy solutions.

scholarly journals The Confidence and Supply Agreement between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party: Implications for the Barnett Formula and Intergovernmental Relations in the UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 586-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Birrell ◽  
Deirdre Heenan
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Intergovernmental Relations ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Competing Interests ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
The Uk

Abstract This article assesses the implications of the 2017 Confidence and Supply Agreement between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the context of the Barnett Formula and intergovernmental relations post the devolution settlement and the Good Friday Agreement. In light of the parties’ shared objectives to strengthen and enhance the UK, the Confidence and Supply Agreement, sets out how the DUP would support the minority Conservative government in specific areas, including finance Bills and matters pertaining to the exit from the European Union. This article examines the nature and operation of this Agreement and assesses the extent to which it may be seen to have breached established conventions, rules and principles around devolved funding and the principle of political impartiality enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement. It is argued that the Confidence and Supply Agreement has contributed to the perceived shortcomings of the Barnett Formula as a robust, fair, financial methodology. The distribution of money to the devolved administrations should be modernised and based on need, accountability and transparency. It is also concluded that being locked into a parliamentary deal undermines the UK Government’s ability to be impartial between the competing interests in Northern Ireland.

scholarly journals Richard Bean’s The Big Fellah (2010) and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman (2017): two plays about the Northern Troubles from outside of Northern Ireland

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroko Mikami
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Good Friday Agreement

During the three decades of the Troubles of Northern Ireland (1969-1998), a remarkable amount of plays about the Troubles was written and almost of them, it seems, had been ‘monopolised’ by (Northern) Irish playwrights. Recently, however, certain changes about this monopoly have been witnessed and those who do not claim themselves as Irish descendants have begun to choose the Northern Troubles as their themes. Also, there have been growing concerns about violence worldwide since 9.11. This article deals with two plays, Richard Bean’s The Big Fellah and Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, neither of which was written by an Irish playwright and examines whether and to what extent it is possible to say that they can transcend regional boundaries and become part of global memories in the context of the post-Good Friday Agreement and the post 9.11.

scholarly journals Resolving international border disputes: The Irish experience

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Coakley
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Territorial Dispute ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Third Phase ◽  
The Uk ◽  
International Border

This article explores the value of a specific model of norm replacement in accounting for the circumstances leading to Ireland’s Good Friday agreement (1998), which formally and finally settled the long-running territorial dispute between Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK). Drawing on the theoretical literature, it identifies three phases in this process. First, from the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922 until the civil unrest in Northern Ireland peaked in 1972 the irredentist norm was substantially unchallenged. It was embedded in the 1937 constitution, which defined the national territory as extending over the whole island of Ireland – including Northern Ireland, a part of the UK. The second phase, from about 1972 to 1998, was one of norm competition. The irredentist norm was severely challenged by new political realities in Northern Ireland, and was potentially destabilising for the state itself. It was increasingly challenged by an alternative ‘consent’ norm, one embracing in effect the geopolitical status quo. The third phase, from 1998 onwards, was one of consolidation of the new norm, now written into the Irish constitution to replace the wording of 1937. The article suggests that this model plays a valuable role in accounting for the changing status of the Irish border, but also that the Irish experience has implications for the broad shape of the model.

scholarly journals Extradition Between the UK and Ireland After Brexit—Understanding the Past and Present to Prepare for the Future

2020 ◽  
pp. 002201832097753
Author(s):  
Gemma Davies ◽  
Paul Arnell
Keyword(s):  
Transition Period ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Good Friday Agreement ◽  
The Future ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom have a long, close and difficult history. The most recent phase of which dates from 1998 and the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement. Since 1921, however, there has been unique practice between Ireland and the UK as regards the transfer of accused and convicted persons from one to the other. Indeed, there has been a special and close relationship between the two in that regard; albeit one not without difficulties. In recent times EU Justice and Home Affairs measures and the Good Friday Agreement have supplemented and strengthened the relationship. These include, since January 2004, the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The EAW has been particularly important in streamlining the extradition process between the Ireland and the UK. This phase of history and co-operation is coming to an end. The UK’s membership of the EU has now ceased, and a transition period during which the UK remains part of the EAW will end on 31st December 2020. The extradition relationship between the two is therefore facing a considerable challenge. There are several options open to Ireland, the UK and the EU as a replacement. Time, political will and the interests of third states, however, may well stand in the way of the conclusion of an agreement that optimally serves the interests of all parties and criminal justice. This paper considers the origins of extradition between the UK and Ireland and the alternative methods of extradition open to the UK and Ireland after Brexit. Consideration is given to the likely operation of a Norway-Iceland style agreement and whether such an agreement will be in place by the end of the transition and, if it was, whether its terms are likely to be sufficient for the needs of Ireland and the UK. The possibility of a bilateral arrangement on extradition between Ireland and the UK is also explored. Underlying the discussion is the critical point that the future extradition relationship must retain its ‘special’ characteristics, and therefore maintain the trust and good will that has developed over the years and given rise to an effective extradition relationship between the two countries. In other words, the lessons of history must be remembered.

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