Constitutional Change

Following consideration of a Notice of Motion at the 16 March 2022 Strategy, Policy and Resources Committee meeting, ratified at the 4 April 2022 Council meeting, it was agreed that Council recognised that discussions about constitutional change are now well underway and that Newry, Mourne and Down District Council have a duty to consult with its ratepayers on this important issue and the implications for the Council area and the wider border corridor.

It was agreed to establish a New Ireland Working Group to begin a consultation with other Councils, ratepayers and community and business representatives to assess views on the issues related to constitutional change.

The first meeting of the working group took place on 10 January 2023.

To date, the Working Group has agreed the following:
•   Collate and gather all the relevant research and statistics from government agencies and academia in relation to this issue and have uploaded to Newry, Mourne and Down District Council website. Where possible, the information gathered should be broken down into the specific social areas;
•   Council increase engagement with Intertrade Ireland.
•   An Executive summary to be produced on the Newry- Dundalk- Drogheda economic zone research.
•   Engage with local Councils on an annual basis to share information and best practice.

Research Materials
As highlighted above, the Working Group has collated a number of reports, presentations and articles in relation to the issue of Constitutional Change. This research has been collated into the following categories:

Individual documents can be accessed by clicking on the relevant category and selecting the appropriate link.