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Cross
Currents is a new series of short books featuring essays by leading
intellectual figures in Ireland, North and South, on issues of
current importance to the people of both jurisdictions. The first
three books features essays on multi-culturalism, the 'island
economy' and human rights. The series aims to open up a higher
and more informed level of debate about such issues in the new
context of closer North/South relations created by the Good Friday
Agreement. The authors have been invited to question and challenge
received wisdom and outdated ideas in this exciting new era.
Each
short book contains two extended essays, one by a Northern writer
and one by a Southern writer, on a current theme of importance
to both jurisdiction, with a short introduction by another figure
of international repute.
Cross
Currents, a joint initiative by Cork University Press and the
Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh, was launched in Dublin
on the 8th May by Supreme
Court judge Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness. The
books include:
Multi-culturalism:
the view from the two Irelands
Introduction
by President Mary McAleese
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Two
of Ireland’s most outspoken critics and cultural commentators, Edna
Longley from the North and Declan
Kiberd from the South, put forward views on
the contrasting directions in which the two societies on
the island are moving. Professor Longley asks whether Northerners
will increasingly identify with Northern Ireland as a shared
point of reference. Will they develop a more flexible sense
of their relations with the Republic and a post-devolution
Britain? Professor Kiberd asks whether a newly prosperous
and confident Republic is genuinely embracing multi-culturalism.
Is it moving towards a post-nationalist society which commits
its citizens to a truly pluralist vision? What does it
mean to be Irish at the turn of the 21st century?
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Can
the Celtic Tiger cross the Irish border?
Introduction
by Peter Sutherland
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Esmond
Birnie (economics
lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, Unionist
politician and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly)
from the North: What, if anything, can Northern Ireland
learn from the success of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy
in the Republic? Is the low level of trade and economic
interchange between the two Irish jurisdictions really
that abnormal in European terms? Should Northern Irish
firms concentrate on the British or the southern Irish
markets? Can you have a successfully co-ordinated island
economy in two separate political jurisdictions? What
will be the role of the Euro? John Bradley (prominent
economics professor and analyst at the Economic and Social
Research Institute)
from the South: What can Northern Ireland learn from the relative
success of the Republic’s economic planning of the past
40 years and the spectacular growth of the past seven years?
Are there mistakes in the South’s strategy that the North
should not repeat? Should the North’s 2010 economic strategy
document pay more attention to cross-border trade and investment?
Does it make sense in economic terms for the island to trade
and seek investment as one unit in a globalised economy? What
will be the role of the Euro?
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Towards
a culture of human rights in Ireland? Introduction
by Mary Robinson
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Stephen
Livingstone (Director,
Human Rights Centre, Queen’s University Belfast)
from the North: Will the setting up of equality and human
rights commissions and the overhaul of the criminal justice
system enable Northern Ireland to move from being Western
Europe’s human rights ‘black spot’ to
becoming a model for other countries? What role can the
political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement play
in bringing about a new human rights and equality ‘culture’ in
the North? How central are they to that process? How
do you achieve the right balance between a human rights
culture and the continuing need for security against
terrorism? Ivana
Bacik (Reid Professor of Criminology and
Penology at Trinity College Dublin; former student
leader and outspoken civil liberties advocate) from
the South: Can a new human rights culture take root
in the Republic in parallel with developments in the
North? How effective will the new equality legislation
be? How does the Republic treat its minorities: refugees,
travellers etc.? What about the continuing problems
of the erosion of the rights of the accused (limits
on bail and the right to silence), prisoners’ rights
and conditions in prisons, children’s rights,
the right to life of the unborn (or the right of a
woman to have an abortion) etc.
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