Irish Unity

A range of human rights experts including Professor Colin Harvey are set to address a Belfast conference organised by Sinn Féin's Commission on the Future of Ireland next month. The 'Rights in a New Ireland' conference will be chaired by Ailbhe Smyth, who played a key role in the marriage equ

Professor Fidelma Ashe is set to appear before the Oireachtas committee on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement as it discusses women and constitutional change. The professor of politics at Ulster University and member of the university's Transitional Justice Institute is a leading schola

A united Ireland could continue to have two distinct legal systems, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested. Delivering the opening speech to his party's ard fheis yesterday, the Fine Gael leader said: "I believe in the unification of our island and I believe it can happen in my lifetime."

It would be highly unwise for referendums on the constitutional future of Northern Ireland to be called without a clear plan for what follows, a major 18-month research project has concluded. The Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland, established by the UCL Constitution U

A major academic project exploring how any potential future referendum or referendums on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland would best be designed and conducted will discuss its interim findings at a webinar next week. The working group on unification referendums, chaired by Dr Alan Renwi

A group led by Belfast solicitor Niall Murphy has called on the Irish government to establish an all-island Citizens' Assembly on constitutional change. A delegation from Mr Murphy's group, Ireland's Future, met with Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday to urge him to prepare for constitutional

The Northern Ireland Secretary is not required to publish a policy setting out the circumstances in which he would direct the holding of a border poll, the Court of Appeal in Belfast has ruled. Delivering the judgment, Lord Justice Stephens said the decision to hold a border poll involves "political

A landmark case concerning the circumstances in which a border poll will be held in Northern Ireland will be heard by the Court of Appeal in Belfast today. Victims' rights campaigner Raymond McCord is appealing the High Court's June 2018 ruling that the Northern Ireland Secretary does not have to ma

Human rights law expert Professor Colin Harvey has called for dialogue about Irish unity to continue in the "spirit of generosity" after speaking out about political pressure over his work. Professor Harvey, of QUB School of Law, told an event at Derry's Guildhall that he felt "under siege from poli

The European Union should support and assist the process of Irish unity, according to a new report by legal academic Professor Colin Harvey and barrister Mark Bassett. The independent legal and academic report was commissioned by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group in the Euro

Human rights expert Professor Colin Harvey has called for a national conversation on Irish unity as a "way back to the EU". Professor Harvey, professor of human rights law at Queen's University Belfast, said it would be "irresponsible not to talk about this".