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2016 Insight and Analysis Archive

Ireland and EU Flag
Border Issues

Future of the land border with the Republic of Ireland Inquiry

December 2016 - This evidence follows the presentation of oral evidence before the committee on 23rd November 2016, at which Dr Hayward was asked to submit further written examples of the management of land borders regarding the movement of people, including the use of technology.

Dr Katy Hayward and Dr Milena Komarova
NIAC

Nicola Sturgeon
Brexit Process

Sturgeon at the Seanad

December 2016 - Professor Graham Walker looks back over Nicola Sturgeon's recent visit to the Seanad in Dublin as part of a two-day visit to Ireland aimed at strengthening economic links between the two countries.

Professor Graham Walker
QPOL

Exit sign
Constitutional Issues

On the Road to Brexit

December 2016 - “Brexit means Brexit” – but what does Brexit mean? David Phinnemore explores the options for the UK – and the European Union – in the wake of June’s dramatic referendum result.

Professor David Phinnemore
Political Insight

Parliament buildings at Stormont
Constitutional Issues

Options for a special status for Northern Ireland after ‘Brexit’

November 2016 - First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster has backed the government's call to move immigration controls back to the Irish border. Dagmar Schiek is a professor of European Union Law at Queen's University in Belfast

Professor Dagmar Schiek
Radio 4 Today Programme

Harland & Wolff
Border Issues

Evidence Northern Ireland Affairs Committee

November 2016 - Professor Dagmar Schiek, of JMCE “Tensions at the Fringes of the European Union”, was called to give evidence in the Inquiry on the future of the land border in Ireland after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. She stressed that from legal perspectives borders are composed of rights to access territory and the authority to control access as well as granting exceptions.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
Tension at the Fringes of the EU (Blog)

Protestors wielding placards against a hard border in Ireland
Border Issues

Oral Evidence: Future of the land border with the Republic of Ireland

November 2016 - Examination of Witnesses Witnesses: Professor Dagmar Schiek, Dr Katy Hayward and Professor Cathal McCall.

Professor Dagmar Schiek, Dr Katy Hayward and Professor Kathy McCall
NIAC

Empty conference room
Border Issues

Future of the land border with the Republic of Ireland

November 2016 - Northern Ireland Affairs Committee questions academics from Queen's University Belfast on the issues posed by the land border that the UK Government will need to take into account in the Brexit negotiations.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
www.parliament.uk

Peace wall in Belfast
Brexit Process

Northern Ireland and Brexit: struggling and divided over ‘what next’

November 2016 - Six weeks after the EU referendum Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Arlene Foster, and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, caused some welcome surprise when they issued a joint letter to the Prime Minister, Theresa May, setting out their thoughts on the implications of the EU referendum result and the Prime Minister’s intention to trigger Article 50.

Professor David Phinnemore
The UK in a Changing Europe (Website)

Courtroom
Legal Affairs

High Court ruling on UK withdrawal from the EU – a legal perspective

November 2016 - Following yesterday's High Court ruling on the UK and Article 50, Professor Dagmar Schiek takes a look at the legal complexities behind the ruling and the reasons for the decision.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Ireland and EU Flag
Border Issues

All island civic dialogue on Brexit

November 2016 - The situation faced on this island is unique. Brexit will mean that the land border on this island will become the land border – indeed the only land border – between the EU and the UK.

Professor David Phinnemore
PDF

Ireland Flag
Border Issues

The spectre of a hard border is not just an Irish problem, it looms across Europe

October 2016 - Following the recent referendum on UK membership of the EU, negotiators aim to avoid a new “hard border” between Northern Ireland and Ireland. However, as Dr Katy Hayward suggests, their efforts will inevitably be shaped by a wider trend that has seen a tightening of border security around and within the EU.

Dr Katy Hayward
QPOL

Empty conference room
Brexit Process

Corrected oral evidence: Brexit: UK-Irish relations

October 2016 - This is a formal evidence session, which will continue with various panels of witnesses during the day, for the House of Lords European Union Select Committee.

Professor David Phinnemore
Select Committee on the European Union

Empty conference room
Brexit Process

Uncorrected oral evidence: Brexit: UK-Irish relations

October 2016 - This is a formal evidence session, which will continue with various panels of witnesses during the day, for the House of Lords European Union Select Committee.

Professor David Phinnemore
www.data.parliament.uk

Giant's Causeway
Economic and Financial Issues

Northern Ireland and Brexit: Limits and Opportunities for a New Relationship with the EU

October 2016 - Given the ‘remain’ vote and post-Brexit the challenges posed not least by its geographical location, what if any options are there for a bespoke status for Northern Ireland?

Professor David Phinnemore
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS)

Border Traffic
Border Issues

Brexit and the border: Managing the UK/Ireland impact

October 2016 -

Dr Katy Hayward
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS)

Banksy Brexit Art
Brexit Process

Exiting the EU: Policy considerations for Northern Ireland

October 2016 - As the UK government prepares to trigger Article 50 (TEC) which commences the process of the UK exiting the European Union, there is an urgent need for Northern Ireland to have a voice in the upcoming negotiations between the UK and the EU.

Dr Lee McGowan and Dr Viviane Gravey
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS)

Pound Coins
Economic and Financial Affairs

Opportunity Brexit? Institutional economic implications for Northern Ireland

October 2016 - This policy briefing focuses on institutional design and economic policy as they relate to the economic consequences of Brexit for NI.

Dr Graham Brownlow
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS)

Polling Station Sign
Brexit Process

The EU referendum vote in Northern Ireland: understanding citizens' political views

October 2016 - Using data from a large scale survey conducted at the time of the referendum this paper explores different interpretations of why people voted the way they did.

Professor John Garry
Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS)

Black and white library
Employment and Social Affairs

Physics in Northern Ireland: Uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty

September 2016 - The IOP is looking to ensure that the decisions regarding Brexit have the greatest possible benefits for physicists and physics as a whole but, for different physicists across the UK there are different concerns to address.

Professor Robert Bowman
Institute of Physics Blog

Document titled TTIP
Environmental Affairs

Aarhus, TTIP and Environmental Protection post-Brexit

September 2016 - To coincide with NI Environment Week, John Barry, Professor of Green Political Economy in the School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy at Queens University Belfast, will explore the unknown landscape of a post Brexit UK.

Professor John Barry
NI Open Government Network

Brexit in Scrabble pieces
Economic and Financial Affairs

Why the UK can’t just pick and choose from the EU menu after Brexit

September 2016 - One of the many as yet unanswered questions thrown up by the Brexit vote is what form the future relationship between the UK and the EU will take. Will Brexit Britain seek to stay in the European Economic Area or attempt to replicate Switzerland’s set of bilateral agreements?

Professor David Phinnemore
The Conversation

Cliffs of Moher
Border Issues

Northern Ireland at the Edge – what next after “BREXIT”

September 2016 - This half-day event focused on the consequences of the UK’s future relationship with Ireland, north and south, including the potential of the EU’s external border crossing the island of Ireland, options for maintaining EU membership and potential lessons from Liechtenstein, Greenland and Switzerland

Professor David Phinnemore
Tension at the Fringes of the EU (Blog)

Blueprints
Brexit Process

Why Arlene and Martin's Brexit blueprint could dictate the UK agenda

August 2016 - The Foster-McGuinness plan, set out in their letter to the PM, would have wide-ranging implications

Dr James Greer
Belfast Telegraph

Playing cards and dice
Brexit Process

Will the Brexit gamble pay off? We may know for sure by 2057

August 2016 -

Professor David Phinnemore
The Guardian

EU Flag
Brexit Process

Detoxifying the UK’s exit from the EU: a multi-national compromise is possible

August 2016 - Current public discussions about how the UK is to leave the EU have been too simplified, and have failed to come up with any solution that recognises that only England and Wales voted to leave. Brendan O’Leary outlines a way forward that might enable those nations of the UK that want to remain in the EU to do so.

Professor Brendan O’Leary
QPOL

Irish Sea
Environmental Issues Health

Cancer, sea life, mental health: the UK research that will be hit by Brexit

July 2016 - With EU grants worth hundreds of millions of pounds now in peril, leading institutions risk losing their place at the forefront of innovation

Professor Mark Lawler
The Guardian

Research lab
Health

Why Brexit is dire news for research into cancer

July 2016 - A vote to leave the EU would lead to decreased funding for studies to fight the killer disease as well as diminished international cooperation, writes Queen's University's Professor Mark Lawler.

Professor Mark Lawler
Belfast Telegraph

Research lab
Health

Why Brexit is dire news for research into cancer

July 2016 - A vote to leave the EU would lead to decreased funding for studies to fight the killer disease as well as diminished international cooperation, writes Queen's University's Professor Mark Lawler.

Professor Mark Lawler
Belfast Telegraph

Polling Station Sign
Brexit Process

Why did Northern Ireland vote to remain?

July 2016 - Economists Edward Mills and Chris Colvin explore the Brexit vote in Northern Ireland in six simple correlations.

Edward Mills and Dr Chris Colvin
QPOL

Photo of an elderly man
Brexit Process

Some Brexonometrics: Don’t Blame our Elders

July 2016 - Dr Alan Fernihough looks at the role of demographics, particularly in terms of education levels and age, to see what it can tell us about how people voted in the recent UK referendum on EU membership.

Dr Alan Fernihough
QPOL

Polling Station Sign
Brexit Process

Don’t Blame the Boomers for Brexit – learn from them: Vote!

July 2016 - Dr Gemma Carney examines how the politics of fear - that has become endemic to public debate – is responsible for the surge in disgust towards baby boomers in the Brexit fallout.

Dr Gemma Carney
QPOL

EU flag and London Phonebooth
Brexit Process

Beyond the UK Referendum – what next for the EU?

July 2016 - In the aftermath of the LEAVE vote in the recent UK referendum on EU membership, Professor Dagmar Schiek looks at some of the key issues such as Article 50 and free movement of people and asks what could and should the EU do next?

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

EU Flag with a star missing
Constitutional Issues

Complex Consitutionalism in a Pluralist UK

July 2016 - A close vote, such as this, was never going to terminate the constitutional conversation, and the decision on what to do now demands further democratic deliberation.

Professor Colin Harvey
UK Constitutional Law Blog

Calculator and glasses
Economic and Financial Affairs

Brexit and the Promised Land of Free Trade Agreements

June 2016 - Dr Billy Melo Araujo examines the legal, political and even practical obstacles that the UK must contend with before being in a position to negotiate its own Free Trade Agreements.

Dr Billy Melo Araujo
QPOL

Man holding his face in his hands
Brexit Process

Brexit: What have they done?

June 2016 - Dr Alexander Titov examines Britain's decision to leave the EU which he describes as a shocking blow to the post-WWII Western political order, and the most striking sign yet of dissatisfaction with the paradigm of liberal globalisation.

Dr Alexander Titov
QPOL

Pound Coins
Economic and Financial Affairs

How Brexit Referendum Will Impact You

June 2016 - In the aftermath of the recent UK referendum on EU membership, Dr Sergey Popov looks at the economic uncertainty that has happened and how it will affect many UK citizens.

Dr Sergey Popov
QPOL

Exit sign
Brexit Process

Breakdown of voting in the UK referendum on EU membership

June 2016 - The maps below show the breakdown of voting across the UK and by constituency in Northern Ireland in the recent UK referendum on EU membership.

Kevin Fearon
QPOL

Harland & Wolff
Brexit Process

Northern Ireland prepares to enter a post-Brexit quagmire

June 2016 - Northern Ireland will need to decide what interests it wants to see defended in the withdrawal negotiations and safeguarded under whatever new relationship replaces the UK’s membership.

Professor David Phinnemore
The Conversation

EU Scrabble pieces
Brexit Process

Brexit: global reaction to Britain’s vote to leave the EU

June 2016 - The United Kingdom has voted by a close margin to leave the European Union. Here, experts from around the world react to the news which has sent shockwaves around the world and what it means for their country.

Professor David Phinnemore
The Conversation

A Euro coin
Employment and Social Affairs

EU referendum – economics, social policy and employment rights

June 2016 - In the last of a series of articles on the UK referendum on EU membership, Professor Dagmar Schiek looks at the impact the EU has had as regards free movement of people and the protection of workers' rights.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Da Vinci Human Image
Legal Affairs

The referendum on the European Union: Remaining Human

June 2016 - This paper focuses on the dangers to human rights and human relationships across these islands in the re-emergence of narrow forms of British nationalism in the UK.

Professor Colin Harvey
Oxford Human Rights Hub

EU flag and London Phonebooth
Brexit Process

If Britain leaves the EU, could it simply re-join?

June 2016 - Whatever the outcome of the EU referendum, there will be voters who, after the event, will have second thoughts on the wisdom of their choice. They will have cast their vote, however. And that cannot be undone. The result will stand.

Professor David Phinnemore
The Conversation

Vladimir Putin
Brexit Process

Does Vladimir Putin really want a Brexit from the European Union?

June 2016 - President Putin would shed no tears if Britain left the European Union. He would see Brexit as a sign of our weakness and the weakness of European solidarity at the very moment we need to maintain our collective strength.

Dr Alexander Titov
The Conversation

Easyjet Airplane
Human Rights

Brexit: Free Movement of Persons and Equal Treatment

June 2016 - As part of an ongoing series looking at the possible implications of a 'Brexit', Professor Dagmar Schiek asks how important the equal treatment of migrants in the host state is for the principle of free movement in the EU. What would be the implications of a 'minor' UK exception?

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Calendar showing the 23rd
Legal Affairs

What does the 23 June mean for Northern Ireland specifically? No. 3

June 2016 - In the third of three articles on the legal implications of a Brexit on Northern Ireland, Professor Dagmar Schiek looks at the future of equality law and policy in Northern Ireland.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Calendar showing the 23rd
Legal Affairs

What does the 23 June mean for Northern Ireland specifically? No. 2

June 2016 - In the second of three blogs on the legal implications of a Brexit on Northern Ireland, Professor Dagmar Schiek looks at the role of the EU in the Northern Ireland peace process and highlights the barriers for continuing this process without the common membership of the UK and Ireland in the EU.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Research Lab
Health

The EU: what’s best for UK cancer research and patients?

May 2016 - The UK faces a momentous decision on June 23, 2016, that will determine its future and influence the future of Europe. How might the so-called Brexit affect cancer research and cancer care in the UK?

Professor Mark Lawler and professor Patrick Johnston
The Lancet Oncology

Border Sign
Border Issues

EU Referendum: Border impact of a Brexit on Northern Ireland no. 1

May 2016 - In the latest of a series of QPol articles around the forthcoming UK referendum on EU membership, Professor Dagmar Schiek asks what does the 23 June mean for Northern Ireland specifically in terms of border issues and highlights some legal truths that are being neglected in the debate.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Parliament buildings at Stormont
Brexit Process

The Brexit vote for Northern Ireland is a very tough one to call

May 2016 - In 1975 Northern Ireland, against predictions, decided by a thin majority to stay in the then European Economic Community. Will history repeat itself on June 23, asks James Greer

Dr James Greer
Belfast Telegraph

EFTA Flags
Brexit Process

Never mind Brexit scaremongering – Turkey is a long way from joining the EU.

May 2016 - The anti-immigration rhetoric of the Leave campaign in the Brexit debate has brought to the fore the question of further enlargement of the European Union.

Professor David Phinnemore
The Conversation

Peace wall in Belfast
Employment and Social Affairs

Brexit debate risks exacerbating division in Northern Ireland

May 2016 - Whilst media coverage focuses on personalities and politicking operating in tight circles around Westminster, the people who would be most acutely affected by Brexit are made quite peripheral to the debate. Of these, the residents of Northern Ireland – location of the UK’s only land border with the EU – are perhaps the most marginalised of all.

Dr Katy Hayward
www.reimaginingeurope.co.uk

Research lab
Health

Brexit: Bad for cancer research; Bad for cancer patients?

April 2016 - As the Brexit debate ramps up in advance of the referendum on 23 June, Professor Mark Lawler looks at how cancer researchers and patients in the UK have benefitted from EU support and collaboration and he examines the possible ramifications of a Brexit vote on cancer care and research.

Professor Mark Lawler
QPOL

Euro Money
Economic and Financial Affairs

Brexit and the Economic Implications for Northern Ireland

April 2016 - Queen's University Belfast was the venue this week for Northern Ireland's largest public debate on the economic implications of a Brexit where Dr Edgar Morgenroth shared his thoughts and research findings of how a "leave" vote could impact on the Northern Ireland economy.

Dr Edgar Morgenroth
QPOL

Poll Card
Brexit Process

Referendum on UK Membership of the EU – who can vote?

April 2016 - With the date of the UK referendum on EU membership set for 23 June, Dr Elodie Fabre looks at voting eligibility in the referendum and asks who is in and who is out when it comes to having a vote?

Dr Elodie Fabre
QPOL

Wheelchair
Health

“Why Brexit could be bad news for disabled people”

April 2016 - The debate about the EU referendum has so far seen the two camps facing off over trade, sovereignty and security. There has been relatively little discussion about what Brexit means for ordinary voters, especially the 11m people with a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability who live in the UK.

Dr Bronagh Byrne
The Conversation

Exit sign
Brexit Process

Emotions and EU Referendums: From Grexit to Brexit

July 2015 - Dr John Garry examines the role that emotions play in referenda, and what this might mean for the competing campaigns in the upcoming UK referendum on EU membership.

Dr John Garry
QPOL

Easyjet Airplane
Human Rights

Brexit: Free Movement of Persons and Equal Treatment

June 2015 - As part of an ongoing series looking at the possible implications of a 'Brexit', Professor Dagmar Schiek asks how important the equal treatment of migrants in the host state is for the principle of free movement in the EU. What would be the implications of a 'minor' UK exception?

Professor Dagmar Schiek
QPOL

Giant's Causeway
Employment and Social Affairs

Brexit: Implications for Northern Ireland

June 2015 - Dr Lee McGowan asks what the implications of a 'Brexit' might be for Northern Ireland. Is this the starting gun to a referendum or a ticking time bomb for Northern Ireland?

Dr Lee McGowan
QPOL

Large clouds looming over the ocean
Brexit Process

EU Referendum: Brexit Looming?

May 2015 - As the UK moves closer towards a referendum on EU membership, Professor David Phinnemore asks what chance David Cameron has of ‘renegotiating’ the UK's membership.

Professor David Phinnemore
QPOL

Empty conference room
Legal Affairs

Written Evidence submitted by Professor Dagmar Schiek for the EU Referendum

March 2016 - This evidence is presented in response to the House of Common’s Northern Ireland Affairs Committees call on 18 January 2016 and complements the oral evidence give in front of the Committee on 3 February 2016.

Professor Dagmar Schiek
House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (PDF)

Empty conference room
Legal Affairs

Oral Evidence: Northern Ireland and the EU Referendum

February 2016 - Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Oral evidence: Northern Ireland and the EU Referendum, HC 760 Wednesday 3 February 2016, 9.30 am

Professor Dagmar Schiek
House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (PDF)