Category Archives: Cross-border cooperation

Why Micheál Martin’s speech was inspirational and why the Shared Island initiative matters

Posted on Tuesday, 20 December, 2022 by andypollak

Nobody would ever accuse the former Taoiseach, Micheál Martin (now Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs), of being an inspirational public speaker. But listening to his speech at the big Shared Island event in Dublin Castle earlier this month, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 6 Comments

Majority of Southern voters think united Ireland “not very important” but they would like to see it “some day”

Posted on Tuesday, 14 December, 2021 by andypollak

That is the headline I would like to have seen on the Irish Times front page lead story on 11th December about the paper’s latest opinion poll on unity and other issues. Its editors went instead for the much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Irish reunification, Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein | 1 Comment

Could North-South agri-food cooperation help cross the rural-urban climate change divide?

Posted on Wednesday, 17 November, 2021 by andypollak

So in the end the political will did not exist among world leaders at COP26 in Glasgow to radically tackle global warming. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned at the end of the conference: “We are still knocking on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment | Leave a comment

A clash between Northern bad faith and good cross-border business and infrastructure?

Posted on Friday, 26 February, 2021 by andypollak

The unionists are digging another hole for themselves with their court action against the Northern Ireland Protocol. There is universal agreement in non-unionist Belfast, Dublin, London and Brussels that the Protocol, however unpleasant in the short-term for the North’s consumers … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland | 2 Comments

Sometimes I despair about the lack of fresh thinking in the Republic about moves towards unity

Posted on Thursday, 5 November, 2020 by andypollak

On 23rd October, the day after the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, launched his ‘Shared Island’ initiative, I wrote the following letter to the Irish Times: The Taoiseach’s comments at the launch of the Government’s new ‘Shared Island’ initiative, prioritising sharing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 2 Comments

An Open Letter to Micheál Martin

Posted on Wednesday, 1 July, 2020 by andypollak

Dear Taoiseach Congratulations on your election last Saturday. We have known each other for 23 years, since you were the rookie Fianna Fail education spokesman (soon to become Minister for Education) and I was the rookie Irish Times education correspondent. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 7 Comments

Why we need to fight the Corona virus on an all-island basis

Posted on Tuesday, 7 April, 2020 by andypollak

This is an updated and expanded version of an article published in the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ on 2 April. I find I have a little more to add to the Covid-19 reflections of my last blog: specifically about North-South cooperation in … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment | 1 Comment

Two reflections on the Corona virus crisis: one Irish, one international

Posted on Friday, 27 March, 2020 by andypollak

What more can one ignorant retired journalist add to the trillions of words written about the Corona virus? Not much, except perhaps two points that readers will have seen before from me ad nauseam on a range of topics: 1) … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, The island environment, Views from abroad | 2 Comments

A pessimistic speech on the 20th anniversary of the Centre for Cross Border Studies

Posted on Friday, 27 September, 2019 by andypollak

The Centre for Cross Border Studies celebrated its 20th anniversary in Dundalk last week with a conference reflecting on the Good Friday Agreement and cross-border cooperation. The importance of the Centre’s work was recognised by the keynote speakers, the three … Continue reading →

Posted in British-Irish relations, Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland | 2 Comments

Invisibility and inertia: the disappointing story of North-South cooperation

Posted on Friday, 25 January, 2019 by andypollak

Whatever has happened to North-South cooperation in recent years? As somebody who was intimately involved in it for 14 years, it seems to me to have become almost invisible. The North South Ministerial Council, set up by the Good Friday … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General | 3 Comments