Brexit and Northern Ireland: A Reading List

Please note: This version of the Brexit and Northern Ireland reading list has now been superseded. For the very latest version, please see here.

The Assembly’s Research and Information Service (RaISe) has just published a seventh version of Brexit and Northern Ireland: A Reading List. We have produced these for almost a year now and they are a key component of our Brexit and Northern Ireland hub, which aims to provide a range of relevant information to inform scrutiny of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

Given the sheer volume and variety of material on the subject of Brexit, the reading list does not attempt to provide a single, comprehensive source covering all outputs and opinions. The material has been drawn from a range of recognised and authoritative sources, and an attempt has been made to select commentary, analysis and media coverage which has particular relevance to the specific circumstances of Northern Ireland and the future of the border with the Republic of Ireland.

The list also includes strategically important documents, such as those outlining the positions of the United Kingdom and Irish governments and the European Union institutions, as well as material addressing the leave process and negotiations.

We have also chosen to include outputs from the devolved institutions in Scotland and Wales, given the potential relevance and read-across to the future work of the Northern Ireland Executive and the Assembly.

Initially, consideration was given to producing a categorised document with material arranged under headings such as ‘Agriculture’, ‘Environment’, ‘Higher Education’ etc. It was quickly realised, however, that as most of the resources to be included covered more than one single policy area this would have led to an exponential increase in the size of the document. For this reason, we have arranged the contents by institution type, with media coverage included at the end.

Each version is a cumulation of recent material along with previous content, offering a full picture of material published since the Referendum and allowing readers to gauge how positions and opinions have changed over time.

Key additions in this latest release include:

• Dr Katy Hayward and Professor David Phinnemore’s Briefing Paper on The Northern Ireland/Ireland Border, Regulatory Alignment and Brexit;
• A recent suite of papers from the Dublin-based Institute of International & European Affairs as part of their latest Brexit Status Report series; and
• Analysis by Professor John Garry and Jamie Pow of the implications for Northern Ireland of Theresa May’s Mansion House speech and the EU’s draft legal agreement.

In addition to this reading list, the Brexit Hub also provides access to the research papers which RaISe has produced thus far on the subject, a selection of articles from our Research Matters blog, and relevant briefings and presentations from our Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series. The Brexit Hub also draws together useful resources produced by others, including the hubs and blogs of other organisations, and details of forthcoming events on Brexit and Northern Ireland.