challenges ni

In the Irish Independent this week, Senator Frances Black writes of the referendum on a United Ireland as a ‘democratic right’. She states how we must, “prepare for a new united Ireland; a self-governing, 32-county state that can flourish and, regardless of identity, religion or culture, leave no section of our community behind again.” Senator Black is a member of the Ireland’s Future - Todhchaí na hÉireann forum, which was set up to bring the question of unity into the heart

In September, I was invited to take part in an episode of ‘Unfashionably Internationalist’, a podcast about political issues around the world. The series is hosted by Phil Doré, a Green Party campaigner and former national organiser of Wales for Europe. I was invited to speak about the Internal Market Bill, currently making its way through Westminster, and its consequences for Ireland. I was also joined by Neil Schofield-Hughes, a retired civil servant and current chair of Ca

Since 1998 there has been extensive debate over the institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive. The pros and cons of mandatory coalition, the petition of concern and co-options have been widely discussed and examined, however there is one important aspect of these institutions that has not faced significant criticism to date, namely the designations system and the use of cross-community voting. After an Assembly election

In a recent contribution, Peter Wilson conducted a post-mortem of the 2016 Brexit referendum. From this post-mortem, he suggested a number of lessons that could be learned and applied to a future border poll. Mr Wilson's proposals are very thoughtful and sincere however I feel that a response is necessary. These proposals would have big implications for the conduct of a border poll and would probably prove controversial. To that end, I will briefly revisit the Brexit referend

23 June 2016 is a date etched deep in my memory; a day when the UK opted to retreat in on itself by unilaterally hauling up the drawbridge to our European neighbours. The background to that decision was of course a monumental plebiscite on our future within the European Union. The electorate were voting on whether or not to depart from a club of which we had been members for in excess of four decades. The decision has had and will have radical consequences for the UK politica

In most Western democracies, politics is usually defined by the left-right divide or spectrum. Readers in the north of Ireland will know that politics is a little different here, with most parties being pigeonholed along constitutional lines first and traditional left-right lines second (I would argue that these lines are not separate but rather intersect, however that is an article for another day). What readers may not know is that a similar political dynamic exists in the

Following on from the landslide Conservative party electoral win and the inevitability of Brexit, this saying, that the half-crown is more powerful than the crown, may make a return to the forefront of Northern Irish politics. Historically, an argument supported by Unionists and some non-Nationalists for Northern Ireland remaining in the UK is the economic strength of the UK compared to the Republic of Ireland. The question must be asked post-Brexit if will this still be the

“All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born.” Thus wrote William Butler Yeats in the year 1916. Of course, he was referring to the events of the Easter Rising, although I hope he would forgive me for tentatively applying his words to the recent general election. To say that it was a historic election might be an understatement. The electoral map of Britain has been redrawn. Labour’s once-impenetrable red wall in the north of England crumbled beneath a wave of Tor

As Brexit draws near and decisions appear to be changing on an hourly basis, there have only been two certainties throughout the process; our economy will take a hit and the constitutional make up of the Island of Ireland will be called into question. Whether we end up with a ‘hard border’, a ‘soft border’ or an ‘I can’t believe it’s not a border, border,’ having two different economic zones on this island will provide additional financial and bureaucratic challenges for busi

It is a bittersweet irony that the border in Ireland, which was completely ignored throughout the Brexit campaign in Britain, has become the single biggest and seemingly intractable issue in British politics. Grave concerns about the threat of Brexit to jobs, the economy and our peace process were repeatedly voiced by activists in Ireland yet these cries fell on deaf ears across the Irish Sea. To many of us, this is unsurprising. Britain has never paid much heed to Ireland. D

I am 18, I have never experienced the tragic war that was brought to Ireland. I have never been subjected to war because of the great people who came before me. If they hadn’t had given what they had, I may have become a “casualty” of the war in Ireland. For this, I respect the Good Friday Agreement and I appreciate the sacrifice and struggle that went into earning it. I live in west Belfast, a community that was brutalised and continually attacked by British forces, and wher

In a previous article for Challenges NI (Why I'm a Republican), I outlined what I considered to be the economic case for a united Ireland. I also stated that there are “many more, and arguably better, reasons why the North should leave the Union and unite with the rest of the Ireland to create a new, agreed Republic”. In this article I would like to expand upon those reasons. Since I have already put forward the economic case, I will focus on the political and social cases fo

On the 18th December 2017, student and UUP activist Neil Richardson published his article Why I’m a Unionist, focusing on the economic ties between the north of Ireland and Britain. He argues that our economic interests are better served by remaining within the United Kingdom rather than uniting with the Republic of Ireland. While many of his points are valid, he provides only half of the story. I’m not as confident as Mr Richardson that economic arguments will take precedenc

The founding father of modern Irish Republicanism, Theobald Wolfe Tone, was a wealthy protestant, inspired by the French and American revolutions. He recognised the inequality, injustice and lack of rights afforded to the catholic population, and that the issue was British governance, based on the principles of dividing and conquering, and removing this foreign governance would be positive for all citizens of Ireland. He wished to “substitute the common name of Irishman in pl