In this month's ARINS podcast Stephen Roulston and Martin Brown, with host Rory Montgomery, discuss education systems in Ireland. Their recent paper is 'A Century of Growing Apart and Challenges of Coming Together: Education Across the Island of Ireland'. Read the article in full here: https://bit.ly/3BCCZyX

This is episode 40 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research. ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠⁠⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠⁠⁠.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

Religion has played a huge role in the history of Ireland and Northern Ireland. There has been little comparative analysis, however, of the legal elements of this topic. Prof Oran Doyle,

Prof David Kenny & Prof Christopher McCrudden discuss, with host Rory Montgomery, their recent paper on the convergence and divergence in religious law on the Island of Ireland, North and South. Read more here: https://bit.ly/49e4tYf

This is episode 39 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

This episode, Birnie Esmond, Senior Economist in the Ulster University Business School discusses his recent paper 'Trading Places: Continuity and Change in Northern Ireland's Trading Relationships' with John FitzGerald, Adjunct Professor of the Department of Economics Trinity College Dublin, and host Rory Montgomery. The paper is available to read here: https://bit.ly/3NSWCFE

This is episode 38 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠⁠⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠⁠⁠. ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

On Monday, 7 October, Nicholas Canny MRIA delivered this lecture as part of the Dublin Festival of History in the Royal Irish Academy.

Spenser’s View has, for centuries, been treated variously as a trove of prejudiced antiquarian lore useful for disparaging Irish people at moments of crisis, and as a store house of evidence that the English government engaged upon an Irish genocide in Elizabethan times.

This lecture by Nicolas Canny, MRIA, offers a radical re-appraisal of the manuscript copy that Spenser left to posterity in 1596, and asks what motivated Spenser to take time from poetic composition to write this prose dialogue, what circumstances influenced his composition of different passages, and what sources and methods he used to underpin the ideas advanced by his interlocutors?

In this month's ARINS podcast host Rory Montgomery discusses the paper 'Beyond unionism and nationalism: do the ‘neithers’ want a border poll and a United Ireland?' with one of its authors, Jon Tonge,

Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool. Read the article in full here: https://bit.ly/3XPHHkb

This is episode 37 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠⁠. ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

Panel discussion on the consequences of the European Parliament elections that took place on the 24th of September 2024.

The members of the panel were Francis Jacobs (former head of the European Parliament Office, Dublin), Sarah Collins (Brussels correspondent, Business Post) and Professor Ben Tonra, MRIA (UCD). It was chaired by Iulia Siedschlag (ESRI).

Francis Jacobs, in his analysis of the EP election results, confirmed that the EPP had been a clear winner, increasing its seat share. The S & D group had largely held its own. It had been a poor election for Renew and the Greens. The far left had increased its seat numbers slightly. While the far right had done well, especially in the largest member states, it had not had the sweeping victory some had predicted, and was fragmented into three rival parties. In principle the mainstream parties should have a majority, but there could also be times when ECR votes were needed. How PM Meloni played her hand would be critically important. There could well be different majorities on different issues.

Sarah Collins spoke about the formation of the Commission. The definition and allocation of portfolios was complex and was generally felt to be likely to boost the authority of President Von der Leyen, as the arbiter of likely disputes, still further. She confirmed that Von der Leyen had been irritated by the Irish Government’s approach to the nomination process, and by the high-profile opposition of four FF MEPs to her re-election. The promotion of European competitiveness as a core objective meant that the Commission could be expected to tilt in a pro-business direction. The Draghi Report offered a range of policy priorities to further this overarching goal. State aid could become very controversial. Climate change and the green new deal would remain important, and other prominent topics would include defence, tech and biopharma regulation, energy and the rule of law. The Ukraine/Russia war would obviously loom large too, however it developed.

Ben Tonra, recognising that the Parliament’s role in relation to the Common Foreign and Security Policy remained relatively weak, nonetheless said that its budgetary role, and its resolutions, even if non-binding, gave it influence. Trends to look out for, with an increase in far right representation and growing anxieties within mainstream parties, included an opposition to strengthening the EU’s foreign policy capacity; resistance to the pooling of defence resources; a transactional approach by some (HU, CZ) to Russia and China; scepticism about enlargement; hostility to migration, including legal migration; the securitisation of development policy; a reluctance to push hard on human rights; less ambition on climate change.

Several varied issues were raised from the floor, including regarding the strength of the commitment to combating climate change; the next Multiannual Financial Framework; the contribution of Irish MEPs; the Apple tax decision; the EU and the Middle East; the speed of decision-making; planning for the effects of either outcome in the US election, including on the goal of strategic autonomy; Von der Leyen’s management style; the role of EP President Metsola; and the robustness of the euro.

The rapporteur for this event was Rory Montgomery, MRIA

On Wednesday 21 August 2024, ecologist and author, Richard Nairn, delivered a lunchtime lecture in the Royal Irish Academy as part of National Heritage Week 2024 entitled 'Richard J. Ussher: Chronicling the Birds of Ireland'.

Richard John Ussher MRIA, 1841-1913, was a speleologist, ornithologist and the main author of Ussher & Warren, The Birds of Ireland (1900), a seminal publication in the history of Irish ornithology that provides an early benchmark by which we can measure the decline of native bird species.

The lecture focuses on the life and work of Ussher, descending the depths of Ireland’s caves in search of fossils and surmounting cliff-faces, mountains and rivers in pursuit of rare birds. The Ussher Bird Notes collection (RIA A009), housed in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, consists of Ussher’s notes and correspondence relating to his research.

Recently, the RIA Library announced a new project, The Birds of Ireland, generously supported by The Heritage Council. The project aims to enable the long-term preservation, access, and discovery of this collection.

Host Rory Montgomery is joined by Brice Dickson and Aoife O'Donoghue in this month's ARINS podcast. They discuss the topic of Dickson's recent paper (written with Tom Hickey) on how British and/or Irish nationality is currently acquired and lost, first under the law in Northern Ireland and then under the law in Ireland. This paper also looks at some of the rights that Irish citizens currently have in the UK and that UK citizens currently have in Ireland, paying particular attention to the impact of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement of 1998 on those rights.

Read the paper: https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/isia.2024.a932295

Having served from 1999 to 2005 as the first Chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, a body set up as a result of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, Brice Dickson was employed in the School of Law at Queen’s University from 2005 to 2017 as a Professor of International and Comparative Law. Since retiring from full-time employment, Brice Dickson still takes a keen interest in the work of the Human Rights Centre in the School of Law and remains a Research Associate at the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s and an Emeritus Fellow of the University’s Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.

Aoife O'Donoghue is a professor of law in Queen's University Belfast since 2022, having previously lectured in Durham University and the University of Galway.

This is episode 36 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠⁠⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠⁠⁠.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

Dr Evelyn Collins and Niall Crowley, along with host Rory Montgomery, explore the frameworks of equality legislation, institutions and policy mechanisms that underpin the equality agenda in Northern Ireland and in Ireland.

Learn more in their recently published paper: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/423/article/912707

This is episode 35 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠⁠⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠⁠⁠.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.

This week, Prof Kieran McEvoy and Dr Cheryl Lawther discuss the politics of apologies within the Northern Ireland Peace Process. This is based of Kieran's recent paper 'Abject and True Remorse': Loyalism and the Politics of Regret in Northern Ireland' which is part of the Irish Studies in International Affairs journal, available at this link https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/423/article/922275

This is episode 34 of a podcast series that provides evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south.

Host Rory Montgomery, MRIA, talks to authors of articles on topics such as cross border health co-operation; the need to regulate social media in referendums, education, cultural affairs and constitutional questions and the imperative for good data and the need to carry out impartial research.

ARINS: Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South brings together experts to provide evidence-based research and analysis on the most significant questions of policy and public debate facing the island of Ireland, north and south. The project publishes, facilitates and disseminates research on the challenges and opportunities presented to the island in a post-Brexit context, with the intention of contributing to an informed public discourse. More information can be found at ⁠⁠⁠www.arinsproject.com⁠⁠⁠.

ARINS is a joint project of The Royal Irish Academy, an all-island body, and the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs.