The rousing tune of ‘I Vow To Thee My Country’ reminds me of my childhood in England.  At my school, St George’s College in Surrey, we sang our school anthem to this tune every morning.  I was brought up with my family in the London Irish community, proud to call this beautiful part of England our home.

I’m quite literally the product of a British-Irish upbringing and whilst I’m Irish, I’ve always embraced the entwinned realities of our islands.  My affection for England and her tolerance, warmth and rich diversity have left me feeling deeply saddened by the toxic and divisive nature of Brexit.

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed in the week of Easter in April 1998, my family had been living back home in Northern Ireland for only a year and watched the historic events unfold on television. I remember vividly how as a teenager I felt the sense of history and hope for the future that the signing of the Agreement symbolised.  It was as if anything was possible.

Many believed at that time that the Agreement could not be reached or that it would not ever survive.  Twenty years on, whilst it has many imperfections, it has endured.  The biggest failing has been that we have not fully realised the possibility of the Agreement.

We are a society that understands that complex, deeply-held and diverse perspectives can be a source of division.  However, Northern Ireland is proof that the seemingly intractable can be resolved.  One simple theme defines the Agreement – relationship building.  The seemingly intractable could be overcome with passionate people, working together to achieve the impossible.

The Agreement generation of political leaders understood the importance of compromise and the courage required in relationship building.

Our great hope must be that our current generation of politicians can summon the same vision and courage, especially in the coming weeks.

I’ve been a passionate advocate for the Agreement for the past 20 years: for the values it espouses, for the opportunity it has created and the possibility of our relationships. It was a visionary document that allowed the space for centuries-old conflict to be brought to an end.

It has allowed my generation to build careers and life in the place we are proud to call home.  Northern Ireland is a very special place, mostly because of its exceptional people.

The Agreement created a unique constitutional settlement (not a permanent solution) for Northern Ireland endorsed by the vast majority of people in both parts of this island.  The unique constitutional status of Northern Ireland is guaranteed by the Agreement (which is an international, legally binding treaty):

  1. The people of Northern Ireland can be British, Irish or both;
  2. The people of Northern Ireland have the right to leave the United Kingdom if a majority of people here wish to do so;
  3. The Agreement created three interlinked and interdependent sets of relationships: between the communities in Northern Ireland, the people North & South and between Britain and Ireland. New organisations, bodies, institutions and arrangements were created to develop these three sets of relationships.

When one understands that this is the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, one can then understand why the UK decision to leave the EU has been so challenging.  Many people in Northern Ireland are Irish citizens only (as they are entitled under the Agreement to be so) and remain EU citizens.  In addition, no other part of the UK has the express constitutional right to accede and join another sovereign country (namely, the Republic of Ireland). And no other part of the UK has arrangements with another sovereign country with hundereds areas of cross-border co-operation are protected via the Agreement.  Thus ‘the border’ is about much more than just a line on the map, it’s about profound relationships and daily realities.

My generation have enjoyed the possibility promised by the Agreement as we sought to build a normal society and proudly share the place we call home.  The invisibility of the border and the development of relationships, North-South and East-West underpin not only our peace but the reality of our daily lives.

Therefore, my position was always that it would be infinitely preferable for the UK to remain in the EU.  However, if it is the will of the people of the UK for all parts of the UK to leave, then an arrangement must be made to ensure the protection of these unique constitutional realities.

Having worked on the issue of Brexit for 3 years both in delivering civic engagement workshops and in advising businesses here, I cannot provide the solution as to how the UK can leave the EU and fully uphold, maintain and realise the Agreement.  I submit that Brexit and the Agreement are incompatible and the chaos of the past two-and-a-half years is proof of this.  The ‘backstop’ is an attempt to address the unique constitutional arrangement of Northern Ireland.  I accept it is imperfect but have seen no other meaningful attempt to seriously address the issue of our unique place on these islands.  Bluntly, I believe that Brexit should be stopped and that it is in the best interests of all the people of Britain and Ireland to ensure the survival and realisation of the Agreement.

Ceiliúradh is the Irish word for celebration.

It was the title of the event held at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2013 to mark the historic State Visit by Irish President Michael D. Higgins to the United Kingdom.

This State Visit cemented the warmth and sense of enormous possibility of British-Irish relations following Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s extraordinary visit to Dublin in 2011.

I was honoured to be one of those invited to the event at the Royal Albert Hall – an evening of music, poetry and verse majestically woven together to celebrate Irish culture in the UK and sang to the identity I had cherished as an Irish young boy growing up in England.  The State Visit for me was a celebration and clear recognition of the entwined lives of our people, history, culture and identity.

Standing next to me that evening was one of my greatest friends in life: a Major in the Royal Irish Regiment from Northern Ireland. We had been friends from school and our journey brought us to celebrate together as the national anthems of the UK and Ireland filled the Royal Albert Hall. In this moment, I felt as if we were celebrating in our mutual respect for each other’s identity and culture. It was as if anything was now possible in the genuine relationship between our two islands.

My generation now had the possibility to re-imagine our relationships as people: what being “Irish, British or both” could mean. Just a few years ago, as an Irishman, I led the UK delegation to a global young leaders forum hosted by the government of Japan.  Surely this is what it could mean to celebrate being ‘British, Irish or both’?

The anthem ‘I Vow To Thee My Country’ is also the tune to ‘The World In Union’.  Last year, I was invited to address the One Young World summit in Bogota, Colombia. I was on stage with two Nobel Peace Prize winners: the late, Kofi Annan and President Santos of Colombia together with exceptional young people from Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Guinea, Israel, Thailand, Kurdistan and Rwanda. There were 2000 young people representing 198 countries around the world present. In that moment, I realised the awesome possibility of my home: we are a generation that have the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that peace and prosperity are possible in the face of intractable conflict. My message was simple: to build peace, you need courage, passion and a dedication to building relationships, especially with those with whom you passionately disagree.

We must all have the courage, not to be bound by our own fixation of what the future might be. Rather to dare to ask: what kind of society do we want for our children?

We, in Northern Ireland, have a unique opportunity in our history: to build upon our hard-earned peace, to reconcile and to re-imagine the potential of our relationships to build a home of hope and prosperity.

My two nephews are aged 3 and 8 months respectively.  They will probably live to see the 22nd Century. The decisions we are making today will affect the rest of their lives.

They, like all the children of Northern Ireland, represent something truly unique in the history of this island – the first generation who have the opportunity to know nothing but peace and prosperity.

I vow to thee my country, that I will do my all to protect and defend this.

My great hope: that others will too.