Beyond the Border: The Good Friday Agreement and Irish Unity after Brexit by Richard Humphreys (review)

Abstract

Fergus A D’Arcy is professor emeritus in modern history of University College Dublin. His biography of Fr John Spratt O Carm, Raising Dublin, Raising Ireland: A Friar’s Campaign, has just been published. Beyond the Border: The Good FridayAgreement and Irish Unity after Brexit, Richard Humphreys (Newbridge, Ireland: Merrion Press, 2018), 250 pages. What does the Good Friday Agreement really mean? How might the constitutional status of Northern Ireland be changed? Have those who call for Irish unity really thought about what they mean? I have just finished reading Beyond the Border: The Good Friday Agreement and Irish Unity after Brexit, by Richard Humphreys. The author is an Irish high court judge and was a legal advisor to the Fine Gael/Labour/ Democratic Left government. The book explores the meaning of the Good Friday Agreement. It explains that its terms will still apply after Brexit and would still apply, even if Northern Ireland ceased to be part of the UK and joined a united Ireland . The Agreement’s requirements mean that the Stormont institutions, its protections for minority interests and its requirement of respect for both identities would continue after unity. The author favours Irish unity but acknowledges that there will be a continuing UK interest in Ireland even if this happens. He presumes there would be support for unity in the Republic. In this, he relies on Article 3.1 of the Irish constitution, which states this to be the ‘firm will’ of the Irish people, if consent has also been obtained in Northern Ireland. He argues that a 50% +1 vote majority in a poll in Northern Ireland is sufficient to bring this about. Legally, that may be so, but it is hardly enough. It is really surprising that the Brexit experience, of setting out on a major constitutional change, on the strength of a narrow majority in a referendum, has not prompted some rethinking on the author’s part. He does not explore the extra taxation that might have to be paid by the southern taxpayer to replace the current UK subsidy to Northern Ireland, in the event that sovereignty moved from Westminster to Dublin. Nor does he even mention the potential extra security provisions that would be made by the Irish taxpayer, to enforce Irish unity of any kind in places like Ballymena, East Belfast and Portadown (unless, of course, the locals wanted it). After Autumn 2018: Book Reviews Studies • volume 107 • number 427 389 all, effective democratic government requires more than just the will of the majority, it also needs the at least passive assent of the minority. Faced with these realities, the ‘firm will’ for unity in the Republic might not be so firm after all. These omissions expose the limitations of a purely legalistic approach. Judge Humphreys deals with the things an Irish government would have to do to recognise the ‘British identity’ of unionists within Ireland. He argues that these things should be done in any event and long in advance of any border poll, and should not be used as a bargaining counter in negotiations with unionists. He suggests, for example, reactivating Irish membership of the Commonwealth. He adds that there should be appropriate measures ‘to recognise and cherish the British identity within the twenty-six county state’. An opportunity to demonstrate this will arise in the commemoration of the war in Ireland between 1919 and 1921. It is important that casualties on both sides are remembered, those who fought for retaining a link with Britain as well as those who fought against it. Many of the former were Irish, from both the unionist and nationalist traditions, especially members of the RIC. Judge Humphreys points out that, under the Good Friday Agreement in the event of unity, unionists should be able to retain UK citizenship while also being able to avail of all the rights of Irish citizenship. My own sense is that active east/west cooperation on joint projects with Britain would be a big help to mitigate a unionist feeling of isolation, whether or not Irish unity is being contemplated. In that sense the reactivation of the British/Irish Intergovernmental Conference is an important step, especially as Brexit...