Opening Address

Northern Ireland is Finished? By Professor Peter Shirlow

Monday 28 July 2025 | 11.15am | £10

There have been predictions that NI will be removed from the UK within half a decade. That has been said several times and numerous half decades have come and gone.  So why have these predictions not come to pass. In this talk Pete Shirlow will explore why these forecasts and prophesies have not come to fruition through the setting of facts about NI (such as the new economy and inter-community relationships) that have framed a new sociology less driven by constitutional matters. A sociology that those seeking Irish unity fail to recognise and/or understand. He will also argue that unionism understands these social, cultural and economic shifts but has no political frame to parallel such changes. In overall terms he will argue that without some existential threat NI will remain in the UK for some time to come

 Prof. Peter Shirlow FAcSS is the Blair Chair and Head of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. He has challenged the interface between academia and community through supporting and developing a range of initiatives that challenged sectarianism, social injustice and racism. Pete has also supported human rights groups in Iraq, Bahrain, Iran, Palestine and other places.  He is the author of the End of Ulster Loyalism? which was a TLS Book of the Year.