Editorial: A New Symposium on Irish Unification: Background Information for a Global Audience

Irish Unification: Of Interest to Constitutionalists Worldwide

Today we launch our first Blog Symposium of 2020, on the potential unification of the island of Ireland, which until recently seemed a distant prospect. Designed by Guest Editor Prof. Oran Doyle, the Symposium will aim to think through the constitutional implications of unification, with sections devoted to processes, substantive issues, and external perspectives. Oran Doyle’s introductory post, published today, sets out the aims and framework of the Symposium in more detail. The full publication schedule is provided at the end of this post.

The IACL-AIDC Blog is happy to host this important Symposium. It is a subject that matters not only to Irish and UK constitutional scholars, but that raises issues of interest to constitutionalists worldwide, and regarding which experiences from a wide variety of other states can be instructive. In addition, while discussion of unification has been precipitated largely by the UK’s departure from the European Union (‘Brexit’), domestic politics in the Republic of Ireland have become increasingly important: a general election at the weekend saw unprecedented success for the Sinn Féin party, which is already in government in Northern Ireland and whose central political project is the unification of the island of Ireland.  

Given that the constitutional status of Northern Ireland (and the constitutional arrangements across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland more broadly) can be easily confusing for a global audience, this editorial focuses on briefly setting out some useful facts that will help our international readership to better understand the content of this Symposium.

Thanks to Our Guest Editor and Co-Hosts

We at the IACL-AIDC Blog wish to express our sincere gratitude to Guest Editor Oran Doyle, all contributors, and all partners who are involved in co-hosting and publicising the Blog. This Symposium is co-hosted by the Constitution Project @ UCC Blog, which focuses on Irish constitutional law. In addition, selected posts will also be co-hosted by the UKCLA Blog, which is part of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) family. The Constitution Unit at University College London (UCL) will also feature the Symposium.

The Current Constitutional Arrangements

The current constitutional arrangements relevant to the issue of Irish unification can be summarised as follows:

• There are two separate states: (i) The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (this is the official name of the state) and (ii) Ireland (‘Ireland’ is the constitutional name of the state; ‘Republic of Ireland’ is the official description of the state set down by statute, which is commonly used internationally). Here we will use the terms ‘the UK’ and ‘the Republic of Ireland’ for the two states, to avoid any confusion.

• The UK has 4 territorial divisions: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. (In general, ‘Great Britain’ refers to England, Wales and Scotland. Hence the official state name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.)

• Northern Ireland is a part of the UK. It comprises 6 counties in the North / Northeast of the island of Ireland.

• The status of Northern Ireland as part of the UK was a subject of contestation both between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and within Northern Ireland itself. Nationalists—mostly Catholic—favoured unification with the Republic of Ireland. Unionists—mostly Protestant—favoured maintaining the Union with the United Kingdom. Paramilitary groups emerged with the support of small minorities on either side of the sectarian divide.

• In 1998, two interrelated agreements achieved an end to decades of violence in Northern Ireland: (i) the Good Friday Agreement, also known as the Belfast Agreement, which is a domestic multi-party agreement within Northern Ireland; and (ii) the British-Irish Agreement, an international treaty between the Republic of Ireland and the UK. This Symposium will generally refer to both agreements as the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

• The GFA established a consociational governance structure for Northern Ireland, which requires both the unionist and nationalist communities to share power in a Northern Ireland executive and assembly.

• The GFA also established that any future unification of the island of Ireland would require the consent of the majority of the population in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

A Short Timeline

The following is a short timeline containing key constitutional and political developments, to provide some additional context to this Symposium. While disputes regarding the history of the two states continue, the following are basic facts:

1800: The Act of Union formed a political union called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which covered all territory shown in the map above.

1922: Following a war of independence, a new dominion state was formed within the British Empire: The Irish Free State comprised 26 of the 32 counties on the island of Ireland. The territory of Northern Ireland, comprising 6 counties, remained within the United Kingdom, which was renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1937: A new constitution was adopted in the Irish Free State, consolidating the increased independence that had been achieved in the previous 15 years. The state was renamed ‘Ireland’ and irredentist provisions (Articles 2 and 3) laid claim to Northern Ireland as forming part of the “national territory”.

1948: The Irish government passed the Republic of Ireland Act, describing the state as a Republic and withdrawing the state from the Commonwealth. This was recognised by the UK in its Republic of Ireland Act 1949.

1969: A 30-year period of political and sectarian violence in Northern Ireland began. Known as ‘The Troubles’, it featured conflict between nationalist and unionist paramilitary groups and British state security forces (the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the British army).

1972: Due to the Troubles, Northern Ireland, which had had its own parliament since 1921, was brought under direct rule by the UK government in Westminster. This lasted until 1998.

1973: The UK and the Republic of Ireland both joined the European Economic Community (which later became the European Union).

1998: The Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and British-Irish Agreement established the current peace settlement and devolved consociational government structure in Northern Ireland.

2016: On 23 June 2016 the electorate in the UK voted in an advisory referendum, by a 52% majority, for the UK to leave the European Union (known as ‘Brexit’). Although the overall UK majority voted to leave the UK, a clear majority of the electorate in Northern Ireland (56%) voted to remain within the EU.

2016-2019: In the withdrawal negotiations between the UK government and the EU, the UK withdrawal’s impact on the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, and the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, were central issues.

2017-2020: Deadlock between the two main political parties, representing the unionist and nationalist communities (the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, respectively) left Northern Ireland without a government for 3 years, from January 2017 to January 2020.

2020: On 31 January 2020 the UK’s membership of the EU formally ended.

2020: A general election in the Republic of Ireland on 8 February 2020 saw the pro-unification Sinn Féin party win an unprecedented share of the vote, slightly greater than the number of votes obtained by each of the two traditional mainstream parties (Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which are also pro-unification but for whom it has not been the central political project).

Tom Gerald DALY (on behalf of myself, Erika ARBAN, and Dinesha SAMARARATNE)

Symposium Schedule

Note: A link to each post is provided below (click on the author name), with links added as each post is published

1.        Editorial: ‘A New Symposium on Irish Unification: Background Information for a Global Audience’

2.        Introduction by Guest Editor (Oran Doyle)

I. Processes

3.        Public international law / GFA (Aoife O’Donoghue)

4.        UK requirements – Northern Ireland Act (Colin Murray)

5.        Irish requirements – constitutional referendum / new constitution (Oran Doyle)

II. Substantive issues

6.        Constitutional models of a united Ireland (Brendan O’Leary)

7.        Issues of concern to unionists / British identity (Brice Dickson)

8.        Other issues from ROI and nationalist perspectives (David Kenny)

9.        Rights and Equality in a Pluralist New Ireland (Colin Harvey)

10.    Role of British Government in any new constitutional settlement (Etain Tanam)

III. External perspectives

11.    Lessons from German reunification (Anna-Khatarina Mangold)

12. Lessons generally from contested territory in constitutional transitions (Cheryl Saunders)

Suggested Citation: Tom Gerald Daly, ‘Editorial: A New Symposium on Irish Unification: Background Information for a Global Audience’ IACL-AIDC Blog (11 February 2020) https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/irish-unification/2020/2/11/editorial-a-new-symposium-on-irish-unification-background-information-for-a-global-audience