Irish Studies@LivUni

@irishinstitute

Institute of #irishstudies @liverpooluni.bsky.social: world-leading research & teaching in peace & conflict, women's studies, literature & history.

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Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jul 14

Small addition to Abercromby Square 👀 Tickets now on sale for double bill of Play & Come and Go, directed by Adrian Dunbar @liveveryplay.bsky.social. More info and ticket links for Beckett: Lieben (incl for Six Paintings - free concert at the Tung Auditorium): www liverpool.ac.uk/Beckett

Large banner advertising Beckett: Lieben fixed to park railings with green trees and shrubs in background. The banner has "Beckett: Lieben 2026", 17-20 September and the url Liverpool.ac.uk/Beckett in large print, as well as a colourful painting of a woman in 1930d dress, a QR code and logis of participating organisations

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jul 10

Dreaming of cooler days? Want to learn a little about the "interconnected stories of these islands"? Our Prof @downham.bsky.social has written about her visit to St Constantine’s Caves near Carlisle: "It was a grey day with light drizzle ..." www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie... #medievalsky #history

Trio of photos taking during the visit to St Constantine's Caves showing (L to R): a wide river glimpsed through dense vegetation; a path between two fences, partially blocked by thistles; and the entrance to the caves: a narrow wooden pathway with a wooden fence on the left and the natural sandstone walls on the right leading to a narrow doorway

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jul 1

Delighted to welcome Dr Jyoti Atwal from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for her talk on Irish Women and the Indian Independence Movement tonight. Her talk explores the transnational bonding of women across Ireland and India during the anti-colonial campaigns.

Dr Jyoti Atwal during her talk. She is standing behind a modern lectern with AV equipment.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 12

And to conclude our thread: ▶️ The share of those who would vote for a united Ireland who would be prepared to pay higher taxes ▶️The share of those who would not vote for Irish unity who would be prepared to pay higher taxes to stay in the UK Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Table showing share of those who would vote for a united Ireland who would pay higher taxes. The table has 3 rows of data (£1,000, £3,000 and £5,000) and 4 columns of data (Agree, Neither, Disagree and Don't know). Standout figures are 39.1% willing to pay £1,000 more in taxes compared to 34.3% unwilling to do so. 53.9% are not willing to pay £3,000 more and 61.7% are not willing to pay £5,000 more

Table showing share of those who would vote not for a united Ireland who would pay higher taxes to stay in the UK. The table has 3 rows of data (£1,000, £3,000 and £5,000) and 4 columns of data (Agree, Neither, Disagree and Don't know). Standout figures are 29.3% willing to pay £1,000 more in taxes compared to 39.9% unwilling to do so. 53.9% are not willing to pay £3,000 more and 60.3% are not willing to pay £5,000 more

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 12

Grouped by party preference: ▶️ 41% of SDLP and a quarter of SF voters agreed that they would vote to remain in the UK (Q1) ▶️ 1 in 8 UUP, nearly 30% of Alliance and 15.6% of DUP voters said they would vote for a united Ireland tomorrow (Q2) Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Responses to Vote for NI to Stay in the UK grouped by party preference. from the top: SDLP, Sinn Fein, Green, TUV, ALL, UUP and DUP. Yes is in blue, No in orange and Don't know in green

Table showing responses to Vote for united Ireland grouped by party preference. There are 4 rows (Agree, Neither, Disagree and Don't Know) and 7 columns (DUB, SF, SDLP, UUP, ALL, TUV and Green).

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 12

Comparing Q1 & Q2 by group identity: ▶️ just under half of neithers would not vote for constitutional change in Q2 but this rises to 55% in Q1 ▶️ 11.6% of nationalists would not vote for constitutional change (Q1) but 31.6% would vote for NI to remain in UK (Q2) 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing responses to would vote Yes to remain in the UK grouped by identity. From the top: Neithers: 20.7% Don't know (green), 24.1% No (orange) and 55.1% Yes (blue) - Nationalist: 6.5%, 61.9% and 31.6% - Unionist 1.6%, 3.6% and 94.8%

Bar chart showing responses to I would vote for a united Ireland tomorrow grouped by Identity. From the Top: Neithers: 7.9% Don't know (green), 15.6% Neither Agree nor disagree (purple), 49.8% No (blue) and 26.7% Yes - Nationalist: 3.7%, 9%, 11.6% and 75.6% - Unionists: 1.2%, 3%, 86.2% and 9.6%

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 12

We asked two different questions on constitutional issues: 1️⃣would you vote to stay in UK? 2️⃣would you vote for a united Ireland? This produced divergent results with Q1 locating 60% support for remaining in the UK compared to 50% with Q2. Why would that be? 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

visual with two tables. On the left responses to "Yes to remain in the UK" which has the results of Yes 61.45, No 28.3% and Do not know 10.3%. On the right responses to "I would vote for a united Ireland tomorrow" with the results "Disagree 49.7%, Agree 35.8%, Do not know 4.7% and neither Agree nor disagree 9.8%.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 11

80% agree that political parties could do more to build reconciliation and healing within society, compared to 4.5% who disagree. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar Chart showing agreement with the statement "Political parties could to more to build reconciliation", with Agree (green, 80%) at the top, Neither agree not disagree (yellow, 13%) in the middle and Disagree (red, 4.5%) at the bottom.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 11

The Assembly is not perfect but it has had some successes such as declines in NHS waiting lists and unemployment. Why do so few electors know that? Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing percentage of respondents aware of declining NHS waiting lists (red) and Unemployment (yellow), clustered by "aware" (left 35% / 46%) and unaware (65% and 54%)

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

Will people change their constitutional position? Ca 1/2 who are pro-unity and 1/3 who are pro-UK are prepared to change their stance if: - NI achieves better social & more inclusive cultural outcomes - ROI offers lower house prices & better standard of living 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing % share who stated they supported Irish unity but would remain in NI if the following conditions were met (L to R): Improved Public Services, Lower Cost of Living in NI, Respect Irish Culture, Availability of Social Housing and House Prices. All bars are over 50%, the first one (improved public services) over 60%.

Bar chart showing % share who stated they supported remaining in UK but would re-consider if following were achieved (L to R): House prices were lower in the Republic, Southern Politicians respect British Culture, More Social Housing in the Republic and Power Sharing. The bars are at about 30% with lower house prices just under 20%.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

Do more Protestants now favour Irish unity & fewer Catholics support staying in the UK? No, shares by religion have remained relatively constant in our surveys. About 1/5 of Catholics favour remaining in the UK & 1/20 of Protestant favour Irish unity. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing disagreement (pink) and agreement (green) with the statement "I would vote for a united Ireland tomorrow" grouped by no religion (55% disagree / 33% agree), Protestant (82% / 6%) and Catholic(18% / 64%)

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

But surely segregated education and housing limit opportunities for inter-community engagement? They are important factors but nearly 80% have friendships across the divide and the majority are involved in constructive inter-community activities. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Pie Chart showing responses to the statement "I have friendships that stretch across the identity divide": 79% agreed (pink), 11% neither agreed nor disagreed (orange), 8.5% disagreed (yellow) and 2% did not know (blue).

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

The vast majority agree that politicians could do more to build reconciliation. Only 14% believe murals that depict violence are helpful in a shared society. Parties need to reflect upon inter-community consensus & develop more reconciliatory actions & language. 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Pie chart showing agreement (purple) and disagreement (yellow) with the statement: Wall murals that depict past violence are unhelpful in a shared society.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

Surely legacy divides people? As much as it does we now have a society in which 75% state that the ‘other’ side was harmed during the Troubles. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Pie chart showing agreement with the statement "I acknowledge the past suffering caused to communities other than my own." The largest slice is Agree (75.6, purple) and the smallest is Disagree (5.1, green). Neither agree nor disagree (orange) makes up 16.8.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

A lot of media is dedicated to issues of legacy & constitutional issues. Are those priorities for electors? They are important but in a list of 1st priority issues for Assembly & Executive they placed 9 and 10. Healthcare and the economy are the main priorities. 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 10

Do unionists still reject the governance structures of the Good Friday Agreement? They are more likely to do so than other groups, but rejection of those structures is over twice as low as support for them. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing support (blue bars) or rejection (orange) of the Good Friday Agreement as basis of governance, grouped by identity (left to right: Unionist, Nationalist and Neithers). 50+% of Unionists and Neithers and 70+% of Nationalists consider the GFA Best Structure. Less than 10% in each group consider the GFA to have no basis.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 9

Would voters tolerate another suspension of the Assembly? (Part 2) A mere 20% of unionists, 16.3% of nationalists and 8.3% of neithers would vote for a party that caused a suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing agreement (red) and disagreement (yellow) with the statement "I would not vote for a party that brought down the Assembly", grouped by identity. Agreement is at 40+% for Unionists, and 60+5 for both Nationalists and Neithers, disagreement is 20% for Unionists, 16% for Nationalists and 8% for Neithers.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 9

Would voters tolerate another suspension of the Assembly? It would be contingent on the reason for collapse, but we find a 40% gap between those who stated that they would not vote for a party that led to suspension of the Assembly and those who would. Full report www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Pie chart showing agreement with statement "I would not for a party that brought down the Assembly". The largest segment (55%, purple) is for agree, next are neither agree nor disagree (22%, orange) and disagree (14% yellow). 9% (blue) indicated "don't know".

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 9

Party leaders scoring rankings of 8+ out of 10 by their party's voters. Jon Burrows pips Michelle O'Neill & Jim Allister, who each received the highest scores from around 1/3 of their voters. Other leaders scored highly from ca 1/4 of their voters. Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing party leaders ranking by their own party voters. At the top are Naomi Long, Gavin Robinson and Claire Hanna, who all score around 25%, below them are Jim Allister, Michelle O'Neill and Jon Burrows, who all score in the 30-35% range.
The leaders are arranged by popularity, lowest at top, biggest at bottom.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 8

Do 'neithers' matter in terms of party politics? 30% of the electorate are neither unionist nor nationalist They are the backbone of non-constitutional parties & a significant share of SDLP voters. Neithers are 41% Catholic, 45% Protestant & 15% non-religious. 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar Chart showing Party voters by identity with 3 bars per party showing the identity of that party's voters (unionist in orange, nationalist in green and Neithers in purple). More than half of Green and Alliance voters are Neithers, and they make up ca 40% of PBP and SDLP voters, Sinn Fein and Aontu voters are over 70% from Nationalist background and UUP, DUP and TUV voters are over 70% from Unionist background. In the middle of the graph is one group of bars showing the % share of each group, with unionists slightly over 30%, nationalist slightly under 30% and Neithers roughly 30%

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 8

Are we entering Border Poll Territory? In simple terms 'No'. Since 1998 the pro-unity vote share has remained static despite decline of pro-union parties. What is shown is a small decline within the pro-unity bloc as opposed to the growth required to reach 50+1. 📝 www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing vote share by (L to R) Pro-Unity, Pro-Union and Non-Constitutional blocs with 2 bars for each bloc (vote 2022 on left and Survey 2026 on right)

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 8

What do predicted vote shares tell us? TUV (+2), UUP (+2) & Greens (+4) are the only parties that have growth predicted compared to 2022 Assembly election. Executive parties, other than the UUP, have experienced decline (SF -3, DUP -2 & Alliance -1). Full report: www.liverpool.ac.uk/irish-studie...

Bar chart showing predicted vote share for Northern Ireland Assembly Election in comparison (blue bars for 2022 vote, orange bars for vote as per Survey; parties from left to right: Sinn Fein, DUP, Alliance, UUP, TUV, Green).
The logos of University of Liverpool, The Sunday Times and the Institute of Irish Studies are at the top.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Jun 8

Coverage in the Sunday Times (print edition) with additional opinion pieces by our director, Prof Shirlow, on the likelihood of a border poll and @drseanhaughey.bsky.social on public support for reforming Stormont.

Photo of a full page spread in the Sunday Times of 7 June 2026. The main article with the title "We won't support parties that collapse Stormont, voters warn" accompanied by a large photo of Stormont, two graphs visualising data from the survey and two small photos of NI politicians. In addition, there are opinion pieces by Prof Shirlow (at the top of the page: "Case for unity rests on outdated view of the north" and by Dr Sean Haughey "Public united on reform even if leaders are not"

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· May 28

Happy #PoetryDay Ireland. We are proud to host the Annual Seamus Heaney Lecture, celebrating one of Ireland's greatest poets. Poetry readings are an integral part of the lecture, such as when Sinéad Cusack read "Clearances" in 2021. All lectures: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· May 14

Interesting workshop with visual artist Nollaig Molloy Archives, Identity and Discussion - What is Irishness? Conversation-based workshop exploring Irish identity in Liverpool, migration, adaptation and belonging 2-3:30pm, 30 May Liverpool Irish Centre FREE: www.eventbrite.ie/e/archives-i...

Poster advertising the "Archies, Identity and Discussion - Liverpool Workshop). The text summarises the main points: 2-3:30pm at the Liverpool Irish Centre, all welcome, no experience necessary, all materials provided.
In the background on the left is a block colour chart and on the right various samples of handwriting on lined paper.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· May 12

"Dating medieval Irish texts using the Irish language" Dr Eoghan Ahern will discuss research on the O'Donohue Saints' Lives, a collection of early medieval texts that survives in a 14C copy 🗓️1:30pm, 24 May 2026 🧭Liverpool Irish Centre, 6 Boundary Lane FREE, no registration required, just pop in.

Colour photo of a medieval manuscript. The image shows the righ hadn page of a book or bound volume, on which there is medieval writing in two columns. The top of the right column starts with an illuminated initial with the end of lines turned in the heads of animals and creatures. Additional inked decorations, mainly dotted lines surround the inital, adn the the inner areas are part-colourised. There is also a small tear in the vellum at the top of the page and some more modern markings, including the number 122 in ink and some pencilled annotations.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· May 1

Prior to the launch, John took our @gerrydiv.bsky.social to see some of his famous images displayed in Dublin's Lincoln's Inn. Keep an eye out for news of our Beckett Festival this September, and the launch of a new book "Love, Life and Death: John Minihan in His Own Words"

John Minihan (right) and Gerry Diver (left) looking at one of John's BW photos hung in a wooden frame on a green wall. Two fire extinguishers are at the bottom of the wall between the two men, their striking red offering a bright contrast to the otherwise more muted colours.

John Minihan (right) and Gerry Diver (left), smiling at the camera, standing in front of John's BW photos hung in wooden frames on a wall with patterned wallpaper. The bottom half of the wall is panelled with dark wood.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· May 1

Delighted to attend the launch of "Visual Poetry: The Photography of John Minihan" @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social Moving speeches by Richard Ryan, NGI director Caroline Campbell and of course John himself! Exhibition is on until October - don't miss it! www.nationalgallery.ie/art-and-arti...

John Minihan standing with his right arm raised in a pose reminiscent of The Thinker next to (sitting) Richard Ryan and NGI director Caroline Campbell. In front of them is a small wooden table with papers and water glasses, behind them is a big sash window showing a Georgian building in daylight.

John Minihan standing during his speech. To his right Richard Ryan and NGI director Caroline Campbell are sitting behind a small wooden table with papers and water glasses. To his left a man is perched on the sill of a big tripartite sash window showing a Georgian building in daylight.

A photo from inside the gallery, three women with their backs to the camera are looking at black and white photos, mounted in simple black frames, hung on a white gallery wall. A quote by John Minihan is printed above the photos (in Irish on top then English below): Black and white are the colours of photography.

$A colour photo taken outside showing the sign for the NGI, with its name spelled out in Irish to the left and English to the right. A big black backwards slash \ middle line of a capital N is in the middle.$

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Apr 29

Great turnout for tonight's lecture on "Chartists, Rebels & Radicals" by Dr Neil Pye @livunipol.bsky.social and Constantin Torve @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social Their talks explore the lasting impact of 19th century popular protest, and the lessons to be learned from it in our time.

Photo taken from back of a large room in a modern building. Most of the space is taken up with round tables surrounded by several people each. At the front of the room is a screen with one of the speakers just visible to the right of the screen and the second speaker waiting further to the right.

Constantin Torve, a young white male with beard and longish hear in a ponytail, during his talk. He us wearing a mauve jacket and speaking into a handheld microphone. Behind him, a screen showing a contemporary print overlaid with the lecture's title is visible.

Dr Neil Pye, a white male with glasses, during his talk. He is wearing a dark pullover and speaking into a handheld microphone. Behind him a screen with a PowerPoint presentation is visible but to bright to make out any details. Alison Grundle, the chair for this lecture, is just visible, sitting on a chair on the left edge of the photo.

Irish Studies@LivUni@irishinstitute· Apr 23

Abercromby Square - as beautiful as ever - now with @livunisustain.bsky.social's #EarthDay photo exhibition: inspiring and thought-provoking pictures taken by UoL and XJTLU staff, students and alumni. For those not based in Liverpool the photos are also online at www.liverpool.ac.uk/about/sustai...