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'Shared island' research to probe gender and law

Research funding totalling €150,000 has been awarded by the Government’s Shared Island initiative to several projects, one of which will examine the policy agendas of the shared institutions of the Good Friday Agreement, and legislatures and political parties in Ireland and the North.

Dr Conor Little (University of Limerick) will identify what policy issues receive political attention, and how agenda-setting shapes politics and policymaking on the island of Ireland.

Complex issues

A project by Dr Maebh Harding of UCD will bring together legal scholars in Ireland and Britain to address emerging and complex issues of gender and the law.

Professor Sheila O’Donohoe (South East Technological University) will establish a research partnership focused on sustainable finance solutions to tackle biodiversity loss.

Dr Steven Hadley (Trinity College Dublin) will develop a data system for enhancing how cultural engagement is understood, which aims to shape  the development of policy, tourism and creative industries.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Simon Harris (Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science) announced the research funding as part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative, with the goal of deepening social and cultural understanding.

Divergence and convergence

A 2021 project was led by Professor Oran Doyle (Trinity College Dublin) and brought together legal experts from North and South to benchmark and assess divergence and convergence across legal systems, legal knowledge, and legal networks across the two jurisdictions.

The project published a report in October 2022, identifying high-level trends of legal convergence and divergence. The report has been discussed at the Irish Association of Law Teachers conference in Belfast (12 November), and is also due to be discussed at a Bar Council conference.

Eight detailed papers are also expected to be published as part of the continuation of the project in 2023.

Looking to the island’s future

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the projects look to the future of the island in an inclusive, practical way, and will help light the way on deepening beneficial cooperation and connections between people and communities in culture, science, education, law and on equality concerns. 

Director of the Irish Research Council Dr Louise Callinan added: “The Irish Research Council is delighted to partner for the second time with the Shared Island unit of the Department of the Taoiseach. 

“The North South Legal Mapping Project, led by Professor Oran Doyle, previously funded through this scheme, is one such project which highlights how the Department of the Taoiseach’s Shared Island New Foundations Awards are already contributing to the Shared Island Initiative.”