The Future of the Union II: Northern Ireland

Following a national referendum on 23 June 2016, the UK announced its intention to end its decades-long membership of the EU. That decision initiated a process of complex negotiations, governed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, with a view to making the arrangements required for an ‘orderly Brexit’. This book explores the UK’s departure from the EU from a legal perspective. As well as analysing the various constitutional principles relevant to ‘EU withdrawal law’, and detailing the main issues and problems arising during the Brexit process itself, the book provides a critical analysis of the final EU–UK Withdrawal Agreement—including dedicated chapters on the future protection of citizens’ rights, the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the prospects for future EU–UK relations in fields such as trade and security.

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Confederal and Consociational Futures

A Treatise on Northern Ireland, Volume III ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198830580.003.0007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 290-364

Author(s):

Brendan O’Leary

Keyword(s):

Great Britain ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

European Integration ◽

Good Friday ◽

Eu Membership ◽

Good Friday Agreement ◽

The Future

The concluding chapter critically reviews the role of European integration in improving British-Irish relations, and in the making of the Good Friday Agreement. Four major votes across Northern Ireland between 2016 and 2017 are surveyed, paying particular attention to the 2016 referendum on EU membership. Predictions are made about the future of Northern Ireland and its union with Great Britain or its reunification with Ireland based on unfolding developments. Transformations South and North, political, social, and economic, are emphasized. The closure of the prospects of a second partition of Ulster is highlighted. Discussion about the possible breakdown, decay, or amendment of existing consociational provisions, and possible modes and modalities of Irish reunification are considered against three twilights that are highlighted, and sketched.

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9. Devolution in Northern Ireland

The Changing Constitution ◽

10.1093/he/9780198806363.003.0009 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 239-269

Author(s):

Brice Dickson

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Good Friday ◽

The Third ◽

The Past ◽

Good Friday Agreement ◽

The Future

Northern Ireland has had a devolved legislature and government, off and on, since 1921. This chapter first examines the nature of the devolution arrangements in place between 1921 and 1972 and then explains what was done to keep Northern Ireland running during the periods of direct rule from Westminster and Whitehall between 1972 and 1999 and between 2002 and 2007. The third section looks at how devolution operated under the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement from 1999 to 2002 and from 2007 to 2017. The chapter then considers the reasons for the failure since 2017 to get devolution re-established and concludes by canvassing what the future constitutional arrangements for Northern Ireland might be. Taken in the round, Northern Ireland’s experience of devolution during the past 98 years has been very troubled. Brexit, alas, seems unlikely to make it less so in the years ahead.

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The future development of the parliament and government of Northern Ireland, pp 12, HMSO Belfast, Oct 1971, 15 ½p

Representation ◽

10.1080/00344897208656349 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 12 (46) ◽

pp. 5-5

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Future Development ◽

The Future

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The Social Union after the Coalition: Devolution, Divergence and Convergence

Journal of Social Policy ◽

10.1017/s0047279416000568 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 251-268 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

MARK SIMPSON

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Social Security ◽

Welfare Reform ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Coalition Government ◽

Reform Agenda ◽

The Social ◽

The Future ◽

Scottish Independence ◽

The Uk

AbstractIn 2009, the UK government emphasised that it was ‘deeply committed’ to the maintenance of the state's social union, embodied in a single social security system. Five years later, the future of this social union appeared less certain than at any time since the 1920s. Dissatisfaction with the ‘welfare reform’ agenda of the coalition government was a driver of support for Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum campaign. Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Assembly failed to pass legislation to mirror the Welfare Reform Act 2012, normally a formality due to the convention of parity in social security. Despite Westminster's subsequent extension of the 2012 reforms to the region, divergence in secondary legislation and practice remains likely. This article draws on the findings of qualitative interviews with politicians and civil servants in both regions during a period covering the conclusion of the Smith Commission's work on the future of Scottish devolution and the height of a political impasse over Northern Ireland's Welfare Reform Bill that threatened a constitutional crisis. It considers the extent to which steps towards divergence in the two devolved regions have altered the UK's social union and to which the two processes have influenced one another.

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