If you were promised a fundamental choice about your future, you’d like to think you would get to exercise it. Right? While the North/NI is a complicated place, the constitutional question is at heart really quite simple. People have the right to decide their own fate: the Union with Britain or a united Ireland.
The conversation about Irish unity continues to make remarkable advances. Media references to a border poll are difficult to avoid. The debate has travelled beyond abstraction to focused reflection on the mechanisms and what a new and united Ireland might look like. Civil society groups, political parties, and universities – among many others – are hard at work doing the required preparation. The recent Oireachtas Good Friday Agreement Committee report on ‘Women and Constitutional Change’ offers further evidence of an established trend. The Irish Government remains shy about entering this space, even though its funded research is of indirect assistance. The picture is no doubt messy and there will be a need, at the appropriate time, for more active co-ordination, as the details of a Programme for a New Ireland (or whatever you prefer to call it) are negotiated. However, a broad political/civic coalition is slowly evolving, with making the best case and winning referendums very much in mind. Deliberation is centred on achieving a successful and sustainable outcome. The language of dull managerialism is everywhere present, but that has not erased the innovation, creativity and imagination flowing into civic dialogues. As tends to happen in Ireland, people are getting on with it. Attention will now turn to the Irish General Election, manifesto commitments and what the next government will do. It will be hard to avoid having something meaningful to say.
Missing from this preparatory activity is Westminster. Quite right too, you might add. This is a decision for the people of the island of Ireland alone, our hard-won right of self-determination. That is correct, of course, and a framing that must be respected. Leadership from Ireland is essential. But it is a mistake to ignore London entirely. The Westminster Parliament and the British Government have a role that must not be neglected. They too need to do their homework, if we are all to navigate this pathway sensibly. That is why I wrote to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in April this year encouraging them onto this ground and why I have followed up since then. Given developments noted above, it is odd that this Committee, for example, is absent. That is not because I expect it to have a major role or provide definitive answers. The basic problem is a failure to give this aspect of the Agreement any detailed consideration. While this may have been understandable in the past that cannot be justified anymore. By gathering evidence, hearing from witnesses and providing a forum for expert insights, it could make a useful contribution. It will also assist in getting Westminster ready for a planning process that will result in an informed choice for people here. A modest and reasonable request.
Colin Harvey is a Professor in the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast and a member of the board of Ireland’s Future. He will be speaking at a Labour for Irish Unity event in Portcullis House, Westminster on Monday 18th November 2024, 7-9pm.
If you were promised a fundamental choice about your future, you’d like to think you would get to exercise it. Right? While the North/NI is a complicated place, the constitutional question is at heart really quite simple. People have the right to decide their own fate: the Union with Britain or a united Ireland.
The conversation about Irish unity continues to make remarkable advances. Media references to a border poll are difficult to avoid. The debate has travelled beyond abstraction to focused reflection on the mechanisms and what a new and united Ireland might look like. Civil society groups, political parties, and universities – among many others – are hard at work doing the required preparation. The recent Oireachtas Good Friday Agreement Committee report on ‘Women and Constitutional Change’ offers further evidence of an established trend. The Irish Government remains shy about entering this space, even though its funded research is of indirect assistance. The picture is no doubt messy and there will be a need, at the appropriate time, for more active co-ordination, as the details of a Programme for a New Ireland (or whatever you prefer to call it) are negotiated. However, a broad political/civic coalition is slowly evolving, with making the best case and winning referendums very much in mind. Deliberation is centred on achieving a successful and sustainable outcome. The language of dull managerialism is everywhere present, but that has not erased the innovation, creativity and imagination flowing into civic dialogues. As tends to happen in Ireland, people are getting on with it. Attention will now turn to the Irish General Election, manifesto commitments and what the next government will do. It will be hard to avoid having something meaningful to say.
Missing from this preparatory activity is Westminster. Quite right too, you might add. This is a decision for the people of the island of Ireland alone, our hard-won right of self-determination. That is correct, of course, and a framing that must be respected. Leadership from Ireland is essential. But it is a mistake to ignore London entirely. The Westminster Parliament and the British Government have a role that must not be neglected. They too need to do their homework, if we are all to navigate this pathway sensibly. That is why I wrote to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee in April this year encouraging them onto this ground and why I have followed up since then. Given developments noted above, it is odd that this Committee, for example, is absent. That is not because I expect it to have a major role or provide definitive answers. The basic problem is a failure to give this aspect of the Agreement any detailed consideration. While this may have been understandable in the past that cannot be justified anymore. By gathering evidence, hearing from witnesses and providing a forum for expert insights, it could make a useful contribution. It will also assist in getting Westminster ready for a planning process that will result in an informed choice for people here. A modest and reasonable request.
Colin Harvey is a Professor in the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast and a member of the board of Ireland’s Future. He will be speaking at a Labour for Irish Unity event in Portcullis House, Westminster on Monday 18th November 2024, 7-9pm.