Other Events
Some of the other meetings, seminars and discussions organised between Nov 2020 and Jun 2024
8 Jun 2024
Lord Reg Empey on the making of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.
22 Jan 2024
Working in the arts in an all-island environment.
Anna Walsh, the new Director of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and former Director of Theatre Forum, talked about her experiences of working in the arts in an all-island environment.
2 Sep 2023
Paul Mullan on City Hall and the Evolution of Belfast Politics.
3 Jun 2023
25 Challenges for Unionism to Build a Better Northern Ireland.
A New Vision for Unionism? Wynn's Hotel, 27 May 2023. Speaker: Rev. Chris Hudson.
28 Apr 2023
Exploring Britishness and Irishness - a new look at identities in Ireland, North and South.
Speakers included: Professor Peter Shirlow, Institute of Irish Studies, Liverpool University, and Professor John Coakley.
1 Apr 2023
Cultural Relations in the 2020s.
Éimear O'Connor, Director,Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Liam Hannaway, Chair, Northern Ireland Arts Council.
13 Dec 2022
Colin Davidson's 'Silent Voices'.
The artist and portrait painter Colin Davidson spoke thoughtfully and very personally about his work and especially his collection 'Silent Voices' in which he painted a number of victims and survivors of the Troubles. He reflected on meeting and painting the late Queen Elizabeth as well as her abiding interest in so many areas of life in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
21 Oct 2022
New Voices Returns.
The Irish Association brought back our New Voices strand when newly elected politicians from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland reflected on common challenges and experiences. Taking part in the online discussion, chaired by Stephen Douds, were Philip Brett MLA ( DUP), Patricia O'Lynn MLA (Alliance), Mairead O'Farrell SF TD for Galway West and James O'Connor FF Cork East.
24 Sep 2021
A Century of All-Island Relations: The Early Years.
The panellists on this seminar considered the origins of the Irish Association in the 1930s and early efforts to promote North/South relations.
The seminar focused on the late 1930s when the Irish Association, whose origins lay in liberal unionist politicians and whose concerns were shared by some nationalists in the South. They agreed to differ on partition, and to concentrate instead on promoting cooperation and friendship through the relations that were possible at the time – social, economic and cultural.
8 Sep 2021
Reconciling Ireland – Book Launch.
On 31 August 2021 The Irish Association, in collaboration with the School of Law at QUB, hosted the online book launch of Reconciling Ireland edited by Richard Humphreys, a judge of the High Court in Dublin. After the launch by Prof Colin Harvey, Richard was in conversation with Freya McClements from the Irish Times and the event concluded with a response from Professor Brice Dickson.
24 Jun 2021
Living with Diversity.
On Wednesday 26th May the Association held another online event entitled Living with Diversity which heard new voices from migrant communities and workers. The panel considered likely cultural changes that were likely to occur in the coming decades as ever larger numbers of people from ethnic backgrounds came to live and work in Ireland. The event was opened by Hazel Chu, The Lord Mayor of Dublin.
18 Mar 2021
St Patrick - A Shared Saint for a Shared Island
In this special St.Patrick's Day event, Dr Johnston McMaster, one of President Higgins' appointments to the Council of State considers what St Patrick might mean to the challenge of a shared island.
7 Mar 2021
Journeying Beyond
For International Women's Day the Association presented a curated conversation between two Belfast-born women now living elsewhere on the island. The artist Rita Duffy and the academic Prof Jane Ohlmeyer spoke to Audrey Carville about their individual journeys and the wider journeys yet possible for women.
15 Feb 2021
New Voices
This conversation with some of the new and emerging elected voices from both jurisdictions examined the challenges common to political life across the island. Chaired by Dr Katy Hayward from QUB, the politicians shared their experience of front-line and first-time politics and the possibility of working together on matters of common concern.
2 Nov 2020
Re-building Bridges - The Challenges of Remembering and Reconciling
In early 2019 the then Minister of Justice in Dublin, Charlie Flanagan stirred up a controversy over his plans to commemorate, albeit privately, the RIC. Meeting in the wake of those comments, the Council of the Irish Association determined to hold an event that would ask how society might best commemorate or reflect on the years marking the Partition of Ireland without jeopardising contemporary efforts at reconciliation?
An in-person event with contributors from both jurisdictions on the island proved impossible because of Covid19. So the discussion, with Prof Brian Walker giving the main paper, went digital, the first of a series of online events to be held in the next few months.
This discussion was also an opportunity to remember the immense contribution of a former President of The Irish Association Rev Brian Kennaway who passed away in October 2019.