Brexit threatens Northern Irish peace, academic study finds
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
In the most comprehensive study of the impact leaving the EU will have on the region, researchers also found that Brexit was seen as “manna from heaven” for Sinn Féin as it “mainstreamed” the topic of unification.
The Queen’s University in Belfast and Ulster University, in conjunction with the Committee on the Administration of Justice, conducted in-depth interviews, town hall meetings and consultations with authorities, producing six interlinked reports.
“This is a profound constitutional moment for Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland,” said Colin Harvey, professor of human rights law at Queen’s. “Brexit will threaten the peace process and weaken protections for human rights and equality. Many of these matters have simply been neglected in the discussions thus far and must change.”
The academics in the BrexitLawNI umbrella group found widespread concern about the long-term impact of Brexit on the relationship between the people of the entire island of Ireland. It ranged from anxiety that the change in status for the region would introduce a new focus on conflict between divided communities and on their differences.
The study concluded that the December joint report on Brexit signed by Theresa May and the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, needed to be followed through with detailed protocols to ensure bespoke solutions reflecting the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland .
It said: “Common membership of the EU has been a basic building block of improved relations across these islands and on the island of Ireland in particular. Brexit has, therefore, promoted deep anxiety about future cooperation.”
Katy Hayward, a commentator on Brexit in Northern Ireland and reader in sociology at Queen’s, argued that generations of “severe social, political and economic challenges” in the central border region, not to mention the violence, had given way to cross-border cooperation.
She said the connections carefully constructed between once-rival communities remained vulnerable and that Brexit risked breaking those relationships.
She and her colleague David Phinnemore pointed out that Brexit could impose limits on this cooperation in border communities in counties in the central region, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh, and their neighbours in the republic, Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan.
One local assembly member, the Alliance party’s Stephen Farry, was among those who highlighted the role of the EU in north-south relations in facilitating an open border. “Today is completely unfettered for people to engage in business and other aspects of life on a north-south basis,” he said.
The EU has also funded businesses in areas riven by violence, which conventional banks and financiers would have considered too risky.
The study also raised concerns over the future of all-island healthcare services. “With a population of 1.8 million, it would not be possible to provide certain specialised medical services in the region,” it noted.
Cancer services in the recently opened radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin Area hospital in Derry, for example, are available to patients across the north-west of the island, regardless of which side of the border they live.
The all-island paediatric cardiology service based at a children’s hospital in Dublin allows children in Northern Ireland to receive life-changing heart surgery without having to travel to England to receive treatment.
BrexitLawNI concludes there is a clear need to lay down new protocols to preserve coexistence of communities and joint services to mitigate against the risks of the split on the island.
It recommends that the assumption that British and Irish citizens will continue to have the right to move freely between the two islands under the common travel area body of agreements and protocols is laid down in new legal codes. It notes there is no visible movement on this front in the UK or Ireland.
The Home Office hostile environment policy should not be rolled out in Ireland and official initiatives should be launched to tackle racial profiling, intimidation and violence, it says.
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The May government has no idea what it is doing... but it is determined to do it!
In the two years since the Brexit vote, I've yet to meet anyone from the UK that doesn't regret how that vote turned out. Good solid people stayed on the sidelines, while those pushing the Brexit offered rainbows and unicorns, to the lesser informed. 1930s Germany repeating itself. That last comparison came from, and has been confirmed bay ALL of our Munich neighbors.
Good to see you Fly Navy.
Been about three years..... Been watching the insanity on both sides here without commenting. I see the trench warfare is as about as static as ever. Hope you've been well John.
Unintended consequences....As the ''date'' becomes closer the May government seems more and more confused.
My English family is a family divided. The older generation (my uncle and aunt) voted for Brexit. My cousins and their spouses didn't. I think part of it is generational. Also, for many who did vote for Brexit, they really didn't understand what they were voting for. I think they thought it sounded like "Britan First" kind of deal, only to find out the side effects outweighed what they perceived as benefits.
Now they are going to have to sit it out. I doubt there will be a revote.
Perrie,
That's part of what I find shocking. Leaving the EU is a fairly momentous decision... which was taken on a one-off, simple-majority vote, without any regard for special conditions in Ireland and Scotland.
That's inconsequence taken to an absurd degree.
It's worse than most know on your side of the pond. Prior to the Brexit, workers in all of the EU countries could easily to take jobs in other countries without the issue with work visas and residency. As things sit, all people from the UK would immediately be required to file for work visas and those in the UK from other EU countries being required to do the same if they want to keep their jobs. It also makes it a mess for young people to find jobs as well.
Putin is loving the return on his investment in forming chaos in the west.
I totally agree Bob. Within months of the vote, it began to hit those who voted for it what kind of mess they had gotten themselves into. It should have been at that point, that they reconsidered a revote. I personally think that May didn't want that, and so that is why it didn't happen. Again, that generational thing.
at least some admit to mistakes made
I spend almost half the year in Calais, the continental side of the Channel Tunnel and the busiest ferry port in Europe.
The customs headaches are going to be monster.
So you've been seeing and hearing the same thing I have for the past two years then.....
I think the London Mayor has asked that a second vote be held. I don't think that's realistic, but it's a good bet that those are the same feelings for many outside of London as well..... now that they know the facts.
Yes, but there's no legal requirement to do so.
Seen from today, it looks like a coin flip.