Conference Agenda

Within the general EU-UK relationship, Northern Ireland continues to play a central role. Its special status - as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement's Protocol and modified by the 2023 Windsor Framework - place it in a unique position both in relation to the EU and to the UK. While the Windsor Framework appears to have lessen most of the immediate issues, it is evident that the situation is dynamic and unstable, partly because of the Protocol itself and partly because of Northern Ireland's wider political situation. This panel builds on its linked counterpart on the general UK-EU relationship to explore various political, legal and practical dimensions of the arrangements, opening up questions that will have ramifications for Northern Ireland, the UK and the EU as a whole.

Agreed to address the ‘unique circumstances’ on the island of Ireland in the context of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, its Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland (or ‘Windsor Framework’) puts Northern Ireland in a position of dynamic regulatory alignment with a specific body of EU law primarily (but not exclusively) relating to trade in goods and participation in energy and electricity markets. The Protocol/Windsor Framework thereby established arrangements for Northern Ireland that are novel in EU external relations and in UK internal governance; at the same time, the circumstances of its implementation are without precedent. The alignment of Northern Ireland under the Protocol/Windsor Framework operates as part of a wider UK-EU relationship which is, under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, broadly orientated towards divergence. Implementation of the Protocol/Windsor Framework is also situated within the internal market of the UK which, post-Brexit, has a more deregulatory trajectory compared to the EU single market.

Against this backdrop, this paper presents an analysis of the complex and overlapping regulatory pressures that exist in post-Brexit Northern Ireland. The first section reviews the legal / policy outcomes arising so far from: (i) dynamic regulatory alignment under the Protocol/Windsor Framework; (ii) UK-EU regulatory divergence under the TCA; and (iii) UK domestic regulatory strategies. Drawing on detailed research which maps the extent of divergence/alignment evident in Northern Ireland across a range of axes, the second section of the paper considers its regulatory environment in the round and identifies (actual/potential) tensions that follow from its bespoke position both within and between the regulatory orders of the UK and EU. The paper concludes by proposing a series of possible means of mitigating and/or managing Northern Ireland’s newfound regulatory dynamism.

Implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland has proved to be one of the most contested and problematic aspects of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU). While many of the most discussed challenges relate to the movement of goods and the tensions created by the interaction between the Protocol and the wider UK-EU trading arrangements under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), questions concerning the ‘democratic deficit’ inherent in the governance arrangements for the Protocol have also attracted attention, notably concerning the absence of ‘voice’ from Northern Ireland. Recognition of the shortcomings of the existing institutional framework for the implementation of the Protocol has led to flexibility and innovation in its operation. This has been accompanied by the establishment of additional innovative arrangements under the Windsor Framework and flexibility in the operation of several institutional elements of the TCA arrangements. This paper charts the establishment structure and operation of the formal governance arrangements for the Protocol before assesses the extent to which the flexibilities and innovations that have been introduced afford genuine opportunities for voices from Northern Ireland to be heard in the implementation of the Protocol. Drawing on the legitimation literature, a third section considers the extent to which these flexibilities and innovations can contribute to a reduction in the ‘democratic deficit’ in the Protocol’s arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Much of the discussion surrounding the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol has focused on its impact on trade and, in particular, the treatment of imports from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. But the Protocol is more than just about trade in goods. It also creates obligations on the UK to safeguard rights and equality protections in Northern Ireland. Such obligations are complemented by a number of legal mechanism included in the TCA, including the level playing provisions. This paper examines the “rights” component of NI’s post-Brexit regime, its implementation and highlights potentially problematic aspects of its interaction with the “trade” component of the Protocol.