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This chapter provides a comprehensive picture of how dialogue and negotiations between the Irish and the British led to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Here Michael Lillis describes his relationship with British official David Goodall and the process of engagement that led to agreement
This chapter details the experiences and efforts of a key political player in the peace process. Importantly, it also explores the role of women in an ostensibly male environment, how decision-making was influenced, how relations were developed, and questions what qualities and differences women brought to the peace process.
This chapter explains how the decommissioning debate was conducted and how the Irish influenced republican thinking on the issue by working with leaders on statements. It also focuses on how leverage was brought to bear on this problem through intense engagement and the building of trust.
This chapter highlights the importance of strategic direction in negotiations and how convergent political positions were created and informed by an ethos of inclusivity. It also looks at the importance of deadlines in a peace process.
This chapter explores the period of the Sunningdale Agreement and how the Irish Government sought to influence Sunningdale and deal with its aftermath in the wake of unionist intransigence.
This chapter elaborates on the impact of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and how the Irish worked in Belfast to create closer ties with the British by monitoring and assessing policing and justice issues and raising questions about possible discrimination and anti-equality activities.
There is a growing interest as well as urgency to understand diversity, cultural differences and transformation on the island of Ireland. With the UK’s Brexit decision in summer 2016 the notion of the border, border crossing and what European Union membership entails for different groups in society have become even more opaque. This chapter examines the everyday life experiences of asylum seekers and refugees in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Their experiences are differently fashioned through two distinct immigration systems, as well as two distinct national, historical and socio-economic contexts. This chapter considers how asylum seekers’ and refugees’ experiences of integration are shaped by issues such as racism and sectarianism in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. It explores how local environments, spatial segregation and being a black immigrant in a largely white society condition feelings of belonging as well as future aspirations. The authors draw particular attention to the complex intersections of poor asylum processes, racism and exclusion.
Less than 40 per cent of adult African nationals in Ireland are employed – far less than the average for Irish natives or for other immigrant groups. They also suffer much higher rates of unemployment than the national average. The pattern is similar in other European labour markets. This chapter explores the underlying reasons for African disadvantage in the Irish labour market. Previous research on immigrants in the Irish labour market suggests that the black African national–ethnic group suffers particular labour market disadvantages and is much more likely than either Irish natives or other immigrant groups to have experienced discrimination while looking for work. Discrimination may provide part of the explanation for the high unemployment rates among Africans participating in the labour force. Previous research also suggests that the severe disadvantages suffered by black Africans may be due in part to the fact that many black Africans in Ireland are refugees and would have spent an extended period of time excluded from the labour market as asylum seekers in the Direct Provision system, leading to a scarring effect on their future employment prospects. However, it is also necessary to consider the low labour force participation rates among Africans and to examine their characteristics (including gender, education and household structure), and barriers to labour force participation associated with those characteristics.
The free movement of EU citizens and the absence of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have facilitated easy movement across the island for many migrants. People born in EU countries, and those who have attained EU citizenship, are equally able to live and work on both sides of the border, and a growing number have family, community and employment connections in both jurisdictions. This chapter examines the emerging implications of the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (Brexit) for the lives of migrants on both sides of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, reduced rights of residency and access to employment will directly affect EU migrants, while non-EU migrants are also affected by a shifting labour market heavily reliant on migrant workers. In the Republic, internal and external border controls agreed to facilitate EU protections and an ongoing relationship with the UK will have an impact on all migrants in their ability to move with ease, while the labour market also experiences significant shifts.
In the Republic of Ireland, children have long been ancillary to immigration policy and decisions, with their specific needs and rights frequently overlooked. In 2016, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern at the current inadequacy of Ireland’s migration law framework to address the needs of migrant children. This chapter explores the impact of the absence of clear law and policy on children's lives. It considers the barriers to children obtaining immigration status and applying for citizenship. It focuses on the problems created by uncertainty around children's immigration status that extend into adulthood and place ceilings on opportunities, including restricting access to third-level education. Migrant children are not a homogeneous group and their individual lived experiences may be very different. The chapter draws on research carried out by the Immigrant Council in 2016 including consultation with 19 young people and 180 social workers, guardians ad litem, and other advocates and support workers, exploring the impact of immigration law, entitlement to naturalisation, access to education and employment, and migrant children’s disproportionate contact with the statutory care system.