NI Constitution

On this page, you will find all the work we did under the 'Constitutional Conundrums' banner and the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account funding we received for that project between 2016 and 2018.

The primary purpose of 'Constitutional Conundrums' was to investigate what the specific consequences of Human Rights Act 1998 reform and Brexit would be for Northern Ireland in terms of its constitutional settlement as a country in the UK and a former part of an EU Member State.

The Backstop and Brexit.

Interview with Colin Murray about the Backstop and Brexit on BBC Newcastle on 22nd January 2019.

Colin Murray – The backstop and Brexit – BBC Newcastle – 22nd Jan. 2019

Discussion Paper on Brexit.

This report examines the impact of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (Brexit) upon human rights and equality issues. Brexit will significantly re-orientate both Northern Ireland’s (NI’s) established human rights structures and the inter-connected human rights’ infrastructure and relationships across Ireland and the UK.

It was written by Colin Murray, Aoife O’Donoghue and Ben Warwick for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. Mr Colin Murray is a Senior Lecturer at Newcastle Law School, Newcastle University, Professor Aoife O’Donoghue is a Professor at Durham Law School, Durham University, and Dr Ben Warwick is a Lecturer at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham.

The views expressed within this paper do not necessarily represent the views of the Commissions, nor the employers of the authors.

Continue reading

Commentary: Joint Report on Phase 1 of the UK/EU Negotiations.

We published our immediate reaction to the Phase One agreement in the form of an annotated account of the Report. Three key issues are central to understanding how this Report changes the dynamic of Brexit insofar as it impacts on Northern Ireland: they are, first, the categorisation of individuals, second, the difference between EU rights and freedoms, and third, the role of consent in any change to the status of Northern Ireland.

Policy Paper: Northern Ireland and the Brave New World of Brexit.

With October 2017 witnessing the beginning of consideration of amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill and the culmination of efforts to address aspects of Brexit affecting the island of Ireland in Phase 1 of the UK’s withdrawal negotiations, this paper is intended to focus on some of the emerging issues for Northern Ireland as the contours of Brexit become increasingly defined.

Continue reading