This seminar will examine the consequences of Britain’s leaving the EU both for the Republic of Ireland and for Northern Ireland. It follows a seminar on Scotland and the EU held at the European Studies Centre on 10 November 2016.

Ireland is the EU member state most likely to suffer from Brexit, and Northern Ireland may be the British region most affected in political and economic terms:

• The UK takes a bigger share of Ireland’s exports than any other EU member; there is a large volume of agricultural trade in both directions.
• Ireland is the only EU state with which the UK has a land border, 500 km long and largely unmarked.
• The economy of Northern Ireland is heavily dependent on EU subsidies and on agriculture; its people voted by 56% to remain in the EU.
• Free travel across the border is politically important both for the North and for the South; some commenters believe that Brexit could undermine the peace process.

Lord Jay of Ewelme (Michael Jay) was British Ambassador to France from 1996, and then Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Head of the British Diplomatic Service) from 2002 to 2006

Kalypso Nicolaïdis is Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Oxford. She was previously associate professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

In association with Centre for International Studies (CIS) and PEFM