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Ibis Newsletter IBIS NEWSLETTER Protestantism and the union Summer 2003 IBIS CONFERENCE The first session was chaired by Issue 6 A major conference on the theme Rev Brian Kennaway, former con- Old structures, new beliefs: relig- venor, Education Committee, ion, community and politics in con- Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Contents temporary Ireland was organised with Jennifer Todd, UCD, as dis- by the Institute with the support of cussant. Diageo Ireland. The academic con- The session opened with a paper venor was Dr Claire Mitchell, Guin- by Dominic Bryan of Queen’s IBIS conference .................... 1 ness Newman Scholar in British- University Belfast, who suggested Irish Studies. The conference took Protestantism and the union . 1 that there was strong evidence that place on 15 May 2003 in the Uni- the Orange Order is in rapid de- Catholicism and the nation... 2 versity Industry Centre, UCD, and cline. He argued that the Orange brought together eight speakers Institution has failed to adapt to Alternative formulations of and an audience of about 55, religion and politics .............. 2 social, political and economic drawn from the public service, the changes. The future of religion and diplomatic corps, voluntary and politics in Ireland.................. 2 other bodies, and the academic The second paper, by John community. Brewer, also of Queen’s University Lecture series....................... 2 Belfast, explored current trends in The proceedings were divided into belief and practice in Ulster Protes- four sessions. Two papers were IBIS news............................. 3 tantism. He concluded that there presented at each. Presentations are strong elements of continuity New working papers ............. 3 were structured to allow time for and change, but argued that Prot- discussion initiated by a pre- estant religiosity has not altered to British-Irish developments.... 4 designated discussant. the point that it constitutes secu- Chronology .......................... 4 IBIS web site ........................ 4 ISSN 1649-0304 Claire Mitchell, Tom Inglis and Mary Harris at the conference view were not, she argued, incom- between the two opposing constitu- patible with an ongoing interest in tional positions. religion. Finally, Alice Feldman, UCD, Alternative formulations of explored the challenges posed by religion and politics the ethnic diversification of con- temporary Irish society for conven- The third session was chaired by tional issues of religion, community Dr Kenneth Milne, historiographer and politics. She discussed the of the Church of Ireland, with Dr nature of religious identity and its Geraldine Smyth, Irish School of relationship with ethnicity within Ecumenics, as discussant. broader cultural and political fields, The first paper, by Gladys Ganiel, and their implications for the “new” UCD, began by noting that histori- (multicultural) Ireland. cally the politics of dissent have been associated with Presbyterian LECTURE SERIES participation in the United Irish A further lecture in the series or- movement. She examined the rea- ganised in association with Co- Guinness Newman Scholar Dr Claire sons why the United Irish and al - Operation Ireland took place on 12 Mitchell chats to Pat Barry, Director, bour movements failed to tran- December 2002, and focused on Corporate Affairs, Diageo Ireland scend sectarianism, and con- the Irish government and the peace cluded with an analysis of the po- process. It was chaired by Jennifer larisation, nor are trends in religi- tential of the peace movement to Todd, UCD, and the speakers were osity weakening ethno-national do so. Albert Reynolds, former Taoiseach, and Kevin Rafter, RTÉ. identities in Northern Ireland. The second paper, by Rev Terence McCaughey, Trinity Kevin Rafter provided an introduc- Catholicism and the nation College Dublin, noted that Irish tion to the topic by exploring the The second session was chaired Christianity, like much of Christi- role Albert Reynolds played as by Tom Inglis, UCD, with Rev Tim anity in the Northwest, has been Taoiseach during the peace proc- Bartlett, St Mary’s University Col- losing adherents at an alarming ess. He identified a number of fac- lege, Belfast, as discussant. rate and is seeking popularity and tors that had been helpful, includ- “relevance”. Religion in various This session opened with a paper ing Mr Reynolds’s commitment to forms first promoted the idea of the by Claire Mitchell, UCD, who resolving the issue, his role in ob- one-ness of humankind, and he drew attention to a common mis- taining a US visa for Gerry Adams, argued for the peculiar obligation of conception that religion in Northern and the fruitful consequences of his the faith communities to discuss Ireland is politically important only contacts with the republican the full implications of this. for Protestants, whereas for Catho- movement. He also drew attention lics the causes of conflict are so- to the central role of Fr Alex Reid The future of religion and as an intermediary linking the Dub- cial, economic and political. Her politics in Ireland paper challenged the assumption lin government with the republican of the purely social significance of The last session was chaired by leadership. John Coakley, Director of the Insti- Catholicism and urged re- Albert Reynolds reflected on his tute for British-Irish Studies, UCD, examination of how relationships time in office. On coming into of- with Stephen Mennell, UCD, as between religion and politics are fice, he had seen several factors discussant. conceived and measured for this that were conducive to progress, group. A paper by Bernadette Hayes, including a growing willingness in Mary Harris, National University of Queen’s University Belfast, and the republican movement to try a Ireland, Galway, examined nation- Ian McAllister, Australian National new strategy, the Hume-Adams alist discourse in nineteenth- University, began by noting that the talks, and a positive relationship century Ireland, which, she argued Northern Ireland conflict has tradi- with John Major and Bill Clinton. tionally been characterised as a drew on both religious and political Mr Reynolds was convinced that a sectarian conflict between two grievances. After independence, ceasefire was a prerequisite to monolithic religious communities. the Church’s involvement in formal talks, and he helped to persuade Using the 2001 Northern Ireland politics was no longer necessary, the republican movement of the Life and Times Survey, they chal- but successive governments pro- value of this by means of confi- lenged this conventional wisdom, moted Catholic values and relied dence building measures, including identifying a small but significant on the Church to address most an end to the broadcasting ban on group of religiously unattached social problems. The more recent Sinn Féin and the issue of prison- people who are more open to en- challenges to the Catholic world- ers. These resulted ultimately in dorsing a political accommodation -2- the IRA ceasefire on August 31 and argues, using recent surveys, resources in a context of a multi- and the loyalist paramilitary cease- that while home rule has become plicity of power centres. In this re- fire six weeks later. the prevailing consensus in con- spect globalisation and the temporary Scotland, people are by changes in forms of territorial man- The former taoiseach underlined no means averse to a parliament agement in the archipelago may be his belief in the peace process and with extended powers and respon- less conducive to stability in in the agreement, stressing the sibilities. Northern Ireland than was initially strong democratic mandate it had hoped. received in the referenda, but he 25. Arthur Aughey, Territory and pointed out that its advantages had politics in Ireland and Great 27. Brigid Laffan, Ireland, Britain, not been sold vigorously in all quar- Britain after devolution Northern Ireland and the Euro- ters. He looked forward with some Simon Partridge, Implications pean dimension optimism to the agreement’s suc- of devolution for England This paper analyses the European cessful implementation. Arthur Aughey’s paper focuses dimension of British-Irish relations IBIS NEWS primarily on the experience of and the EU’s role in altering the devolution in the United Kingdom, environment within which relations New working papers pointing to the political need to between these islands are played The IBIS pre-publication working achieve a sense of cohesion, in out. The paper examines relations paper series is based on work in order to secure the existence of a between the two states in the con- progress. Individual papers are British identity. Simon Partridge text of EU membership and pro- available free of charge from IBIS outlines devolutionary moves within ceeds to an analysis of the evolu- (though a small charge applies to England itself, concluding that a tion of an EU role under four head- orders of several copies). All but quasi federal England could fit ings: the EU as an arena, EU poli- the last of these are based on the quite well into a broadened British- cies and reports, the EU as a proceedings of the conference Irish Council. model and the EU in Northern Ire- land. The paper then assesses the "Renovation or Revolution? New 26. Jennifer Todd, The changing EU dimension of the Good Friday territorial politics in Ireland and the structure of conflict in Northern Agreement in all three strands and United Kingdom." organised by the Ireland and the Good Friday finishes with a brief analysis
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