Ireland for a New Generation
Belfast Telegraph – Monday, 6 February 2012
The Republic of Ireland should consider rejoining the Commonwealth as Britain celebrates the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party said.
Her visit to Dublin and Cork last year suggested a new relationship between the two states, Tom Elliott added.
Hansard – 30 June 2011 : Column 1861
Republic of Ireland and the Commonwealth
Question – 11.25 am
Asked By Lord Rana
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent visit by Her Majesty the Queen to the Republic of Ireland, what plans they have to encourage the Republic to rejoin the Commonwealth.
Image by Gopio
Gary Kent – Progress Online
13 Jun 2011 12:30
I was perhaps premature in proposing this but the widely acknowledged success of the Queen’s visit to Ireland opens up the possibility.
Graphic: Independent Australia
Reform Book: ‘Ireland & the Commonwealth: Towards Membership’
The Reform Group published the book ‘Ireland & the Commonwealth: Towards Membership’ in 2010. It contains articles by writers such as Mary Kenny, Roy Garland and John-Paul McCarthy dealing with the stirring history of this period and with personalities like Éamon de Valera, Sean MacBride and Clement Atlee.
You can download or order the book at Lulu,
or order it at Amazon in print, or Kindle versions.
or any good bookshop: ISBN-10: 0-95615-771-8, ISBN-13: 978-09561577-1-3
2009 marked the 60th anniversary of Ireland’s departure from the Commonwealth, and many Reform members were enthusiastically involved in this year’s campaign to encourage Ireland to now consider returning to the Commonwealth.
A joint letter to the Irish Times (3 March 2009) set out some of the main reasons to consider rejoining, and was signed by leading public figures from all parts of Ireland and these islands – including Alliance Party Leader David Ford MLA, PUP leader Dawn Purvis MLA, Lord Rana, Senator Eoghan Harris and academics such as Professor Brice Dickson and Professor Geoffrey Roberts:
Madam, – As Ireland approaches the 60th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic, is it time to reconsider the country’s membership of the Commonwealth? When Ireland left the Commonwealth in 1949 the other member-states hoped its departure would be temporary. In the 1920s and 1930s the Irish Free State had played a crucial role in the transformation of the British Commonwealth into an association of free, democratic and sovereign states. After Ireland left, the Commonwealth continued to evolve.
Ireland’s membership of the Commonwealth would, we are sure, be welcomed by the unionist community in Northern Ireland as a significant gesture of reconciliation. It would add to the collaborative framework established by the Belfast and St Andrew’s agreements. It would demonstrate unequivocally that the Republic has finally drawn a line under the troubled history of Anglo-Irish relations that led to Ireland’s self-exclusion from the Commonwealth 60 years ago. It would represent a further important step along the road to a pluralist Ireland in which different identities are recognised and respected, a country that celebrates its multi-cultural heritage and diverse history.
Reform has now published a new book, bringing together a collection of articles, speeches and reports by prominent academics, authors and political commentators on the important question of whether or not Ireland should return to the Commonwealth.
The book includes articles by: Bruce Arnold, Amitav Banerji, Robin Bury, John Erskine, Roy Garland, Gordon Lucy, Mary Kenny, Prof. Robert Martin, Dr. Martin Mansergh TD, Andrew MacKinlay MP, John-Paul McCarthy, Prof. Geoff Roberts and others.
Many of the contributors are in favour of rejoining – although the book also includes a speech by Dr. Martin Mansergh TD arguing that Ireland should not rejoin.
Reform hopes that this new book will be a timely and interesting contribution to the ongoing debate on Commonwealth membership.
The book costs just £10 and can be ordered online.
Commonwealth Day speech by Eamon Delaney, writer and freelance journalist, at the Royal Irish Academy, with an introduction by Robin Bury, Chairman of the Reform Group
Commonwealth Day speech by Cyrus Rustomjee, Director of Economic Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, at the Royal Irish Academy
Part 1 
Part 2 
Part 3 
Last week, a book about Ireland and the Commonwealth was launched in Dublin by the Reform Group, a plucky organisation which argues that Ireland should join, or rather rejoin, that ex-colonial club.
There is more to the world than Germany and France
Joseph Stiglitz, George Osborne & David McWilliams will be speaking next week (15–17 May) at Google Zeitgeistminds panel on the Euro and EU periphery.
Joseph Stiglitz previously made reference to the economic benefits of Commonwealth membership in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009:
David McWilliams has described in his column that Ireland needs to enter into additional spheres of orbit. Perhaps Ireland joining the Commonwealth is the answer and in Ireland’s selfish and economic interests:
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