The Ad Hoc Group for North-South and East-West Cooperation met virtually to discuss the ongoing negotiations between the UK Government and the European Union on the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol and to consider their impact on North-South and East-West Cooperation.
Members also discussed the revitalisation of the New Common Charter for cooperation within and between these islands. For more information on the Common Charter or to become a supporter,
please visit our website.
Ad-Hoc Group meets European Economic and Social Council’s EU-UK Follow-Up Committee
The Ad-Hoc Group for North-South and East-West Cooperation met with the European Economic and Social Council’s EU-UK Follow-Up Committee and shared its concerns that proposals regarding engagement of the mechanisms established by the Protocol with civic society do not exclude representation from civic society organisations in the Republic of Ireland on matters regarding cross-border cooperation.
Read the Group’s follow up statement here.
House of Lords Sub-Committee on the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland publishes evidence from the Ad-Hoc Group for North-South and East-West Cooperation
The submission focuses on the extent to which the UK Government’s July Command Paper and the EU’s proposals of 13 October provide opportunities for agreement and for effective monitoring of the maintenance of the necessary conditions for North-South cooperation. In terms of the latter, this includes how both sets of proposals address civic society engagement with the mechanisms of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
Read more
CCBS co-hosts online discussion of a proposed Truth Recovery Process
In partnership with the UCS Centre for Ethics in Public Life and the Institute of Irish Studies of the University of Liverpool, the Centre for Cross Border Studies hosted an on-line forum to discuss a proposed
Truth Recovery Process (TRP) on Friday, 26th November.
The TRP aims to address some of the ongoing issues of harm, trauma, political intractability and social division left by the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The forum was chaired by Mr Justice Richard Humphreys. Michael Lynn SC and Céile Varley BL presented legal opinion on the compatibility of the TRP with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and responses were provided by Brice Dickson (Professor Emeritus of International and Comparative Law at Queens University, Belfast), Pat McCartan (a former Judge of the Circuit Court), and Alan McBride (manager of the WAVE Trauma Centre in Belfast).
2021 Stock Take of Cross-border Citizens' Information and Advice: supply & demand
The Border People project has noticed increase in demand for cross-border information and advice. Is your organisation experiencing similar? Do you have cross-border experts within your team? Would your organisation be interested in cross-border training or opportunities for collaboration?
If your organisation provides free information and advice to citizens, and is based in Ireland or Northern Ireland, we'd really appreciate if you complete a quick, 4 minute, survey to help us stock-take and plan ahead!
https://forms.gle/rkjpsnw7ifNfKWn26
OTHER CROSS BORDER NEWS
Irish Government launches Shared Island Week including a Shared Island Forum with Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD.
The week-long series of events will showcase the Government's Shared Island initiative to date and will look ahead at an ambitious work programme.
For further information or to register for the events please see the latest
Shared Island ezine or you can sign up to the mailing list by emailing
sharedisland@taoiseach.gov.ie
Conditions for Cooperation. Whither Civil Society?
By Tara Farrell, 2021 edition of The Journal of Cross Border Studies in Ireland
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
Panel Discussion on Human Rights and Cross-Border Cooperation Provisions: The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
DCU Brexit Institute Conference, 18th and 19th November 2021
Watch on YouTube 
