Adjusting to partition: from irredentism to “consent” in twentieth-century Ireland

Abstract

When articles 2 and 3 of the Irish constitution were amended under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday agreement to replace an apparent claim to jurisdiction over Northern Ireland by an aspirational statement regarding Irish unity, it seemed that many of the issues of conflict in the North-South relationship had been resolved. This article traces the process by which ideological change and policy reformation in southern Ireland during the course of the twentieth century facilitated this agreement and the associated constitutional reformulation, looking at three areas within which change is obvious. First, demands for Irish unity, vigorously expressed but confined substantially to the domain of rhetoric, were revisited in the early 1970s when the fuller implications of Irish unity became clearer, and in the context of a possible British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. Second, distaste for North-South institutions such as a Council of Ireland, on the ground that it implied recognition of partition, was replaced by a willingness to accept a modest level of institutionalised cross-border cooperation. Third, reluctance to recognise the legitimacy of Northern Ireland was reversed, with Irish governments moving progressively towards recognition of the principle of "consent" in the late twentieth century. Together, these changes amounted to a reversal of traditional irredentist policies and a formal acceptance of partition.

Choose your target wisely: how the EU shapes nationalism in contemporary Europe

“…The onset of NI's Troubles in 1969 caused an upsurge in irredentist appeals in Ireland due to a belief that unity could be achieved sooner than expected (Coakley 2017;Hayes and McAllister 1996), but, over time, this irredentism weakened as it became clearer that unity would be a long-term aspiration (Ó Beacháin 2019). However, in addition to violence, this declining saliency was also due to Ireland and the UK's joint EU membership, which had a profound influence on how parties understood the problem (Coakley and O'Dowd 2007).…”

Public attitudes to different possible models of a United Ireland: evidence from a citizens’ assembly in Northern Ireland

“…The Northern Ireland Secretary of State is obliged to trigger a referendum if, in her view, 'a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland', and in the event of a vote for reunification she must legislate to give effect to that wish after negotiations between the UK and Ireland (Northern Ireland Act, 1998, Part 1, section 1, and schedule 1; for the question more generally, Coakley, 2017aCoakley, , 2017bGibbons, 2018;Ó Beacháin, 2019).…”