The European Union and the Northern Ireland peace process

Architects of the European Union peace programmes in Northern Ireland will come together for the first time in twenty years to reflect on the role the EU played in the Northern Ireland peace process at a unique symposium in the O’Donoghue Theatre in NUI Galway on Friday 27 April. They are joined by academic experts on the European Union and key figures active in cross-border cooperation to explore the significance of the EU role in the peace process and discuss the future of the Good Friday Agreement and the Irish border. The symposium will discuss the challenges posed by Brexit twenty years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, at a time when EU involvement in the Peace Process and cross-border relations in Ireland is at the centre of public debate.

Speakers include:

Mr Carlo Trojan, former Secretary General of the European Commission and Head of the 1994 Northern Ireland Task Force

Mr Hugh Logue, former EU Commission official from 1984. In 1994 he, along with two colleagues, was asked by President Jacques Delors to consult all parties in Northern Ireland. Their recommendations became the blueprint for the first EU PEACE Programme.

Ms Jane Morrice, former head of the EU Commission Office Northern Ireland. She was involved in the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and was a member of the Standing Orders Committee which set the initial rules governing Assembly procedures post-devolution

Mr Colm Larkin senior official of the EU Commission from 1974-2004 and special advisor in the Office of First and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998-2001

Andy Pollak, founding Director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh

Tom Arnold, Current chair of the All Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit and former chairman of the Irish Times and member of the Royal Irish Academy

Dr Katy Hayward, School of Sociology, Queen’s University Belfast,

Dr Mary C. Murphy, Department of Government, University College Cork,

Dr Giada Lagana, Dr Brendan Flynn and Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh, School of Political Science and Sociology, National University of Ireland Galway

The event will be opened by Noel Dorr, former Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and former Irish Ambassador to the United Nations and the United Kingdom. Professor Alan Ahearne, Director of the Whitaker Institute, will make closing remarks. Professor Daniel Carey, Director of the Moore Institute and Dr Michelle Millar, Head of the School of Political Science and Sociology will act as Chairs.

The symposium originates with the PhD thesis of Dr Giada Lagana on the Europeanization of the Northern Ireland peace process and brings together several of the people she interviewed for the thesis. Thesis supervisor was Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh, School of political Science and Sociology.

This unique and innovative event is organised by the Conflict, Humanitarianism and Security Research Cluster of the Whitaker Institute, National University of Ireland Galway, in partnership with the Moore Institute and supported by the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Academic Association for contemporary European Studies (UACES).

This is a free event but advance registration is essential. Register at

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-european-union-and-the-northern-ireland-peace-process-tickets-42754005381

Conference programme available at: https://eupeacenuig.weebly.com/

Contact: Giada Lagana G.LAGANa1@nuigalway.ie or Niall O Dochartaigh niall.odochartaigh@nuigalway.ie