Life after Brexit: Operationalising the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement’s Principle of Consent

Dublin University Law Journal, 2019

45 Pages Posted: 26 Nov 2019

See all articles by C. R. G. Murray

C. R. G. Murray

Newcastle University - Newcastle Law School

Aoife O'Donoghue

Queen's University Belfast, School of Law

Date Written: October 25, 2019

Abstract

Brexit has energised discussions upon Irish (re)unification, with even Theresa May recognising that the threat of a no-deal Brexit heightens the possibility of the break up of the UK. The increasingly prominent discussion of a so-called “border poll”, however, risks disguising the difficulties inherent in arranging such a vote. If no effort is made, in advance, to explore the processes by which a united Ireland could be brought about, then the peoples of Ireland and Northern Ireland risk being bounced into a choice without a reasonable opportunity to make an informed decision. The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement has been said to provide ‘a clear mechanism through which a united Ireland may be achieved’. Judges, however, have emphasised its ‘intensely political’ nature and the multiple possible readings that its terms support. Deliberations upon (re)unifying Ireland raise questions of domestic law under the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, European Union law, the European Convention on Human Rights and aspects of general international law. These legal considerations are but one element of planning for an exercise of consent, taking their place alongside political, social and economic considerations. This paper reflects upon the extent to which the incorporation of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in the law of Ireland and Northern Ireland enables the functioning of its principle of consent or shrouds it in mystery.

Keywords: Brexit, Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, Principle of Consent, Unification of Ireland

Suggested Citation

Murray, C. R. G. and O'Donoghue, Aoife, Life after Brexit: Operationalising the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement’s Principle of Consent (October 25, 2019). Dublin University Law Journal, 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3486960 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3486960

C. R. G. Murray (Contact Author)

Newcastle University - Newcastle Law School ( email )

Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nuls/staff/profile/colin.murray

Aoife O'Donoghue

Queen's University Belfast, School of Law ( email )

Ireland

HOME PAGE: http://https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/aoife-odonoghue

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