The Brexit crisis, Ireland and British–Irish relations: Europeanisation and/or de-Europeanisation?

ABSTRACT

Brexit is not solely a UK crisis. Ireland, more than any other member state, stands to be deeply and profoundly impacted by the UK’s departure from the EU. The crisis which Ireland faces is multi-dimensional: economic and political, constitutional and existential in nature. The nature and impact of Brexit changes Ireland’s relationship with the EU, and this is because the UK’s decision to leave the European bloc is also a crisis for the EU. Brexit challenges the balance between intergovernmental and supranational institutions and dynamics in the EU; alters power and policy balances; and adds a degree of contingency to EU membership for all member-states. This article explores the various political, economic and constitutional crises generated for Ireland by the Brexit vote and assesses how Brexit impacts on the Europeanisation and/or de-Europeanisation of the Irish political system and British–Irish relations. This includes an analysis of the extent to which the traditional Europeanised characteristics of the Ireland-EU relationship and the British–Irish relationship will endure or perish within the confines of a post-Brexit EU.

KEYWORDS:

• Brexit
• Ireland
• Northern Ireland
• British–Irish relationship
• de-Europeanisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr Mary C. Murphy holds a Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration and is a lecturer in politics in the Department of Government and Politics, University College Cork. She is the President of the Irish Association for Contemporary European Studies (IACES) and specialises in the study of the European Union relationship with Ireland, north and south. She has published extensively and most recently is the author of ‘Europe and Northern Ireland’s Future: Negotiating Brexit’s Unique Case’ (Agenda Publishing 2018). Mary is currently working on a three-year ESRC project ‘Between two unions: The Constitutional Future of the Islands after Brexit’ with colleagues across the UK.

Notes

1 Solidarity-People Before Profit is an electoral alliance formed by members of two small left-wing socialist political parties: Solidarity and People Before Profit. There are six Solidarity-People Before Profit TDs in the 32nd Dáil (elected in 2016).

2 The European Council Summit meeting on 29 April 2017 agreed a declaration allowing Northern Ireland automatic membership of the EU in the event of Irish unification.

3 Fianna Fáil is the largest opposition party in Ireland, but in 2016 the party agreed to support the minority-led Fine Gael government through a Confidence and Supply Agreement.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/P009441/1].