Ireland's Call

by Stephen Collins

Brexit altered the relationship between Ireland and the United Kingdom in a profound way and led to the resignation of four British prime ministers. It took four years for the UK to leave the European Union after the 2016 Leave vote and another four before the outstanding issues relating to Northern Ireland were finally settled in February, 2024.
Ireland’s Call tells the inside story of how Irish political leaders and officials waged a diplomatic campaign to persuade the EU that whatever the outcome of the Brexit talks there could be no hard border on the island of Ireland. Through interviews with senior figrues on both sides of the Irish Sea and in Brussels the author reveals how the campaign was devised and pursued to a successful conclusion.

Hardcover

Published October 5, 2022

About the author

Stephen Collins, an Irish journalist and author, is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times. He was previously political editor at the Irish newspapers The Irish Press, The Sunday Press, the Sunday Tribune, and most recently The Irish Times, which he joined in January 2006. He studied for a B.A. in History and Politics and an M.A. in politics at University College Dublin.

In 1983–84 Collins sat on the New Ireland Forum, a body designed to establish common ground amongst Irish nationalist political parties. His later criticisms of Charles Haughey — who also sat on the Forum — were, it has been said, primarily moulded by the complacency with which he had seen Jack Lynch's handling of the Arms Crisis of 1970.

Collins has published books on the Cosgrave political dynasty and, more recently, on the foundation of the Progressive Democrats political party, called Breaking the Mould.

Reviews

[Rory Bergin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important read for anyone interested in British or Irish politics and the course of Brexit as it weaved its destructive path across Governments in the UK, Ireland and the EU.