Category Archives: Cross-border cooperation

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

Posted on Friday, 25 January, 2019 by

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

Could a four-party pro-EU Executive govern Northern Ireland?

Posted on Wednesday, 21 November, 2018 by

In a letter to the Irish Times earlier this month Martin Mansergh, one of the principal architects of the Good Friday Agreement, issued a plea to nationalists and republicans to recognise some positive aspects of Northern Ireland’s past, ranging from the contribution … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland | Leave a comment

Why demography is no way to solve the Northern Ireland problem

Posted on Thursday, 25 January, 2018 by

We need to talk about demography. In an Irish Times article last month the economist David McWilliams reminded us of some basic facts.¹ As we all know, the Protestant population of Northern Ireland is falling while the Catholic population is rising. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism | Leave a comment

Could an all-island economy be part of the Brexit deal?

Posted on Wednesday, 10 January, 2018 by

Perhaps the most interesting phrase in the 8 December agreement between the UK and EU was that, in the absence of agreed solutions, not only would the UK maintain full alignment with the rules of the Single Market and the … Continue reading →

Posted in British-Irish relations, Cross-border cooperation, General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

Brexit: a novel agricultural opportunity as the nightmare approaches?

Posted on Wednesday, 25 October, 2017 by

As October ends all is confusion and uncertainty over Brexit:  the first round of UK-EU talks on the exit bill, citizens rights and Ireland are stalled; Brussels is worried that Britain’s weak prime minister and feuding Conservative leadership will mean … Continue reading →

Posted in British-Irish relations, Cross-border cooperation, General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

The DUP may be paranoid, but we still have to befriend them

Posted on Thursday, 29 June, 2017 by

It should come as no surprise that beleaguered identity appears to have once again trumped economic well-being in Northern Ireland (for the moment, anyway), as inter-party talks meant to agree a return to power-sharing missed their British government-imposed deadline this … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism | 1 Comment

A Presbyterian republican Ulsterwoman and the ‘sister states’ of Ireland

Posted on Sunday, 25 December, 2016 by

For the second year running my politician of the year is a Protestant Ulsterwoman. This year it is Heather Humphreys, Irish Minister for Arts, Culture, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, a Monaghan Presbyterian whose grandfather signed the 1912 Ulster Covenant and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | Leave a comment