6 - The Constitutional Politics of a United Ireland

Summary

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union renders a united Ireland more likely than before. Unification, if it occurs, is likely to be accompanied by significant constitutional change or a new constitution. This chapter explores how the structure of governance could be adapted to make a newly unified state more sensitive to the concerns and aspirations of those from the Ulster Scots and Ulster British traditions. The chapter considers how consociational government for Northern Ireland could continue within a united Ireland, and assesses how a divergence of interests could lead to significant tensions between the national institutions and the devolved institutions, and within the national institutions themselves. The chapter identifies the many provisions of the current Irish constitution that posit a notion of Irish identity exclusionary of those from the Ulster Scots and Ulster British traditions. But their removal—at least without detailed consideration of how the constitution might be amended to respect multiple identities—risks reducing the sympathy of existing citizens for the unified State. The chapter concludes by exploring how the various constitutional changes considered would be interpreted and amendable after unification.