Professor Colin Harvey:

In terms of context, I am disappointed that although some of the complex issues arising from the situation and the agreement are much talked about, we have yet to see evidence that all the consequences have been fully worked through, concretely and legally, at this stage. I was disappointed to see, in the context of paragraph 52 of the joint report from December 2017, that there has not been more progress in respect of the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland in this conversation. These are precisely the types of questions on which we need clarity.

There are two matters with regard to the birthright issue. First, it is not well understood either in Britain or on this island. Some of the matters we are talking about today will require work by the British Government but a number of them will require work by the Irish Government to make them legally meaningful. The birthright provisions of the agreement are not well understood, and we are talking about an international treaty that brings obligations with it. There is also something that many of us here are tired of saying, which is that the Good Friday Agreement has not been effectively implemented in domestic law in the UK. There has been a failure of effective and comprehensive implementation of the agreement and this is one example of that. There is the issue of misunderstanding but there is also the issue of follow through and changing domestic law to reflect the complexities of this provision. Otherwise people will find themselves in a bureaucratic mess. That also relates to the European Union in its negotiations on this with regard to providing necessary assurances in the context of the current conversation. The bill of rights proposals from the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in 2008 need to be dusted off. There was an attempt in those proposals to grapple with some of this and to formalise aspects of the agreement that had been neglected. In other work I have been doing with Dr. Anne Smith at Ulster University on the bill of rights we talk about a formalisation gap. Given that people are so keen on the Good Friday Agreement we need to see some of it implemented more effectively.

That is also true of the conversation we have heard regarding the common travel area. There is much talk about the common travel area but what has emerged as a matter of absolute urgency in both jurisdictions is the need to formalise and codify the common travel area. Mr. Les Allamby spoke about it being written in sand. There is an emerging consensus that there must be a bilateral treaty, and it should be a comprehensive treaty, to make the common travel area rights meaningful in practice. There is a formalisation gap in that regard too. These are issues for the Irish Government. Ireland has to be sure that its domestic law, policy and practice respect the common travel area as well. We need to have that conversation on this island, so there are things that could be done.

Voting rights for the European Parliament is something that frustrates me. Throughout the Brexit negotiations people have used language referring to imagination, creativity and flexibility, but that has not been evident in the discussions on, for example, voting rights. There is a view that this is possible and doable. If there is political will in this jurisdiction to do this, it can be done. This is an area where a little imagination and creativity should be exercised by the Irish Government with regard to voting rights for the North. It is very disappointing to hear people say it is unrealistic and impossible when it is quite clear that aspects of it are legally doable. Some of that would also address some of the problems that are emerging in discussions around the protocol. One of the criticisms of the protocol on the backstop is about the democratic deficit. Perhaps one way to deal with an aspect of that is around the extension of voting rights in the North and handling the complexities of that, whether that is on this island or in the context of the EU-UK negotiations.

The big issue for me is that Brexit is highlighting a formalisation and codification gap in respect of the Good Friday Agreement and the common travel area. There are things the Irish Government could be doing to follow through on this. It is important that it does its bit in the context of this discussion.