Note: NEW ROOM: 1481/224!

The Centre for Irish Studies and the English Lecture Society are happy to announce that the fourth seminar in our CISA Spring Seminar Series 2017 will be taking place on the 5 of April at 16.30-18.00 at Nobelparken building 1481, room 366.

The seminar series comprise a total of five double lectures all fuelled by snacks and followed by discussions.

In Brexit times, this double seminar will deal with Ireland and its relations to the EU. We will look at the EU as a peace-building project as well as the impact of British, Irish and Danish accession to the EU in the 1970s, through its impact on the Court of Justice’ case-law.

‘Brexit and Northern Ireland: New dynamics in old conflicts?’

Speaker: Sara Dybris McQuaid. Associate professor of British and Irish history and society and director of the Centre of Irish Studies.

The British referendum on EU Membership revealed a less than United Kingdom. The results demonstrated clear demographic divisions in terms of age, gender, education, class, city and country. Importantly, obvious divisions also emerged between the nations, which make up the United Kingdom.

While England and Wales voted to leave, a majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland opted to stay. Brexit is now a powerful motor in the ongoing challenges to the future integrity of the United Kingdom posed by nationalist movements, particularly in Scotland and Northern Ireland. As such, the referendum about external relations with the EU is accelerating an internal crisis in the UK. Sara Dybris McQuaid will discuss the case of Northern Ireland and consider how (EEC) EU membership has contributed to the peace in Northern Ireland and how the result of the referendum will continue to affect the peace process and the future of Northern Ireland.

 ‘The Anglo-Danish-Irish Judicial Connection: Mackenzie Stuart, Sørensen, and Ó Dálaigh, and the early days at the Court of Justice of the European Communities​’

Speaker: Graham Butler, Assistant Professor of Law, Aarhus University

The United Kingdom, Denmark, and all joined the EU in 1973, and were entitled to nominate for appointment a judge to the Court of Justice of the European Communities. These judges would be in the position to bring their own legal culture and experience to the international court in Luxembourg. The UK nominated the Scotsman Alexander MacKenzie Stuart to be judge, alongside London-based Jean Pierre Warner as Advocate-General. Ireland nominated its Chief Justice, Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh to be judge, and Denmark put forth the Professor Max Sørensen of Aarhus University to also be judge.

Over the years that followed, the Court of Justice continued to be faced with questions on the correct interpretation of Community law when questions were asked of it, and it jostled with its constitutional doctrines that had emanated from the previous decades. What influence and impact did this enlargement of the Court have? By looking to the judgments of Court and the constitutional questions being put to it, we can begin to chart the effects of the judgments of that time on the theory and practice of European Union law today.

Remember to stay tuned for more information on the upcoming seminars in our series – the fifth and final of which will take place on 3 May and will include two seminars on ‘Irish Politics and public performance’ given by Isabelle Torrance and Isabel Kusche. Information on the seminars will all be shared on the Centre for Irish Studies Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cisaau/ as well as on the ELS Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ELS.AarhusUni/?fref=ts.