In May 2021 Northern Ireland will mark the hundredth year of its existence. These years have been marked by long periods of turmoil rather than any sense of contentment or stability. There has been and remains an atmosphere of unease. Governments in Northern Ireland have been marked by periods of [...]
Northern Ireland will mark 100 years of its existence on the 3rd of May 2021. Meantime the Government of the Republic has launched a radical new policy calling for “A Shared Island”. This new emphasis on SHARING points to a United Ireland as an aspiration rather than a policy. In [...]
The British government has been making a significant effort to present the video conference between the Prime Minister and the Presidents of the European Council, Commission and Parliament on Monday as constituting something of a breakthrough in the negotiations over the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European [...]
Click here to watch the recorded webinar held on 8th June 2020. SPEAKERS: Daithi O’Ceallaigh Dáithí O’Ceallaigh is a former Irish diplomat who worked for many years on British-Irish and north–south relations, culminating in service as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2001 to 2007. Dr Mary Murphy Dr [...]
Monday, 8th June, 17.00 - 19.00 WATCH THE RECORDED WEBINAR Brexit will affect the whole of the UK politically and economically, almost certainly only for the worse. But Brexit poses particularly grave and immediate challenges for the island of Ireland. We are lucky to have four experts to give us [...]
by Brendan DonnellyDirector, The Federal Trust 6th May 2020 Eight months before the end of the transition period the British government seems intent upon two courses of action which will exacerbate the inevitable political and economic damage to the United Kingdom when it finally withdraws from the European treaties. The [...]
by Dr Andrew BlickReader in Politics and Contemporary History at King’s College London; Senior Research Fellow at the Federal Trust 22nd January 2020 In February 2018, when serving as Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson was reported telling journalists that ‘the particular problems around the Irish border are being used to drive the [...]
BREXIT: THE POLITICAL DECLARATION MUST BE VAGUE AND PRECISE AT THE SAME TIME by Brendan Donnelly, Director, The Federal Trust 11th October 2018 The issues relating to the status of Northern Ireland after Brexit, and in particular the Irish “backstop,” have not yet been resolved. The major political [...]
by Brendan Donnelly, Director, The Federal Trust 22nd May 2018 The Irish strand of the current negotiations between the UK and the EU presents a rich case study in the delusions and dilemmas of Brexit. It is difficult to think of any other area of the negotiations which [...]
Mrs May’s Mansion House Speech – The Irish Dimension By John Bruton, former Irish Taoiseach 4th March 2018 This article was first published in the Meath Chronicle. My first reaction, watching Theresa May’s speech, was that The UK is going to put itself, and all the other EU countries, [...]
