David Phinnemore* (Queen’s University Belfast) The return of Stormont means that members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) can now get their voice heard directly on the operation of the Windsor Framework.  A key moment will come in November/December when MLAs will hold a ‘Democratic Consent’ vote on whether core provisions of the Protocol/Windsor Framework governing the movement of goods should continue to apply.  In the meantime, the newly established Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee has begun its work scrutinizing changes to European Union (EU) laws that a ..read more

Feargal Cochrane* (University of Kent) Enoch Powell, the former Ulster Unionist Party MP for South Down, once famously remarked that ‘all political careers end in failure’. In view of recent events within the leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), he could have added, that some also end in disgrace and humiliation, as his former protégé Sir Jeffrey Donaldson seems to have catapulted spectacularly from hero to zero in a matter of weeks.  26 Good Fridays after walking out of the final session of the All-Party Talks that resulted in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998 ..read more

Etain Tannam* (Trinity College Dublin) The North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC), provided for by Strand Two of the Good Friday Agreement, met on April 8, just two days before the 26th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, and nearly 3 years since its last meeting. It was an historic occasion in many ways: a nationalist, Michelle O’Neill, is First Minister in Northern Ireland for the first time in the jurisdiction’s history. It was also Leo Varadkar’s last time attending the NSMC and his last official event as Taoiseach – Simon Harris took over as Taoiseach the next day, following Varadka ..read more

The School of Law and Government at Dublin City University invites applications for its four-year fully funded PhD programme, starting in September 2024. Outstanding PhD candidates will be offered fee waiver and a tax-free scholarship of €22,000 per annum for four years. All applicants (including international applicants) will be automatically considered for the funded studentship. The School of Law and Government is a research active school with world-class faculty willing to supervise PhD students on topics in their areas of research. DCU regularly ranks among the top “100 under 50 ..read more

DCU Brexit Institute staff member and PhD candidate Davide Genini recently wrote a blog piece titled ‘Understanding the New Ukraine Assistance Fund: A Game-Changer in EU Support to Ukraine?‘ for the European Journal of International Law. You can read it here. Davide Genini is a PhD candidate in EU law at Dublin City University specialising in European security law. His research focuses on EU-US foreign and security law, defence industrial law and NATO law ..read more

The DCU Brexit Institute is pleased to host the upcoming event ‘EU Strategic Autonomy Two Years into the War in Ukraine‘. This event will take place on Zoom. Time & Date: 17.00-18.30 Brussels time, Thursday 14 May 2024 Keynote: President Dalia Grybauskaitė (Former President of Lithuania) Chair: Una Mullally (Journalist, Irish Times) Panelists: Prof. Ming Du (Professor in Chinese Law and the Co-Director of Global Policy Institute, Durham University) Dr. Niall Moran (Assistant Professor in Law at the School of Law and Government at DCU and Deputy Director of the DCU Brexit Institute) D ..read more

John Bell, LLM (Queen Mary University of London)* Introduction In a welcome step, Stormont returned to work on 3 February 2024. This followed a deal between the UK and the DUP (“Safeguarding the Union”) on 31 January 2024 after the latter had previously walked out of power-sharing due to its objections to the Northern Ireland Protocol, now known as the Windsor Framework. One of the DUP’s objections to the former Northern Ireland Protocol was its perceived “democratic deficit” given the continued application in Northern Ireland of hundreds of pages of EU law. (The work of Stormont has cont ..read more

Camille Barbe (Université de Bordeaux) In the history of feminist constitutional discourse, March 8, 2024, will go down as a date to remember. While annually, this day celebrates international women’s day, this year it also marked the simultaneous unfolding of constitutional amendment procedures in two European countries, Ireland and France. While both tackled feminist issues, only one was adopted. Nevertheless both experiences are significant examples of the ambivalence that can exist inside such procedures. In other words, beyond appearances, Ireland’s rejection of its recent referendum(s) a ..read more

European Commission officials are currently preparing a proposal to support Ukraine through future profits from Russian state funds that are frozen on EU accounts. Despite some legal and political concerns, the officials seem confident and EU leaders will discuss the proposal at the European Council to be held today (21 March). Hence the question: provided an agreement on the proposal will actually materialize, will it make a difference for Ukraine and the ongoing war? The sheer volume of the projected proceeds – 15 to 20 billion Euros from now to the end of 2027 – indicate that they well coul ..read more

Ian Cooper (DCU Brexit Institute) On 20 March, the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made the surprise announcement that he was stepping down as leader of his party, Fine Gael. Once his party chooses a successor, that person is set to take over as the leader of the government, a three-party coalition with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. The new leader will be in place for the local and European Parliament elections (and the referendum on the Unified Patent Court) on 7 June and the next general election, which must be held by March 2025.  Varadkar was Taoiseach during the most febrile period o ..read more