Brendan Halligan, Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur
On Tuesday, 19 April 2016, Brendan Halligan was conferred with France’s highest civilian Honour: l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur. To see the full gallery of photos of the event, click here.
Economist, politician and academic, Brendan Halligan has extensive experience as an activist in the European arena. He is the founder and current Chairman of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) a leading European think tank on European and International issues. He was appointed as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1983 until 1984, where he specialised in economic affairs and energy policy.
In a letter confirming the award, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Harlem Désir noted that the President of the French Republic had granted the distinction of Chevalier to honour “the remarkable merit” of Mr Halligan’s personal and professional achievements. It continued that the award is also in recognition of “50 years of exemplary contribution to the European debate in Ireland,” noting Mr Haligan’s invaluable, lifelong and multi-faceted devotion to the European ideal on political, intellectual and activist levels.
It was this time around twenty years ago, with Robert Emmet’s 200th anniversary coming up, that I began to wonder, like many Irish people, about the death and burial of that singular Irish historical figure. The conundrum of the patriot’s last speech from the dock is rivalled only by the mystery of his final resting place. There are various theories, and while personal investigations, interviews with historians and even Emmet’s ancestors were fascinating, they were inconclusive. My research produced a series of illustrations that I was planning to use in a study of the subject, and while the study was never in fact completed, I would like to present them today to commemorate the birth of one of Ireland’s most remarkable rebels: Robert Emmet.
On 25 May, 2015, Ban Ki-moon visited Dublin Castle for the launch of a programme that highlights Ireland’s contribution and commitment to the United Nations over the last 60 years. At the launch, co-hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs and Ireland’s Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered a lecture in St Patrick’s Hall entitled: The UN at 70: Looking back, Looking Forward.
At the event, attendees included former Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, who was Minister for External Affairs in 1955 when Ireland joined the United Nations; UN Special Envoy for Climate Change and former Irish President Mary Robinson; Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charlie Flanagan, TD, IIEA Chairman Brendan Halligan, Director General of the IIEA Tom Arnold and Jill Donoghue, Head of Research, IIEA, Peter Sutherland, United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary-General on International Migration and Richard Ryan, former Irish Ambassador to the UN in New York.
For full photographic coverage of this event, click here
On Thursday, 30 May, former ECB President Jean Claude-Trichet visited Dublin’s Royal Hospital, Kilmainham to deliver a paper entitled, “Governance of the Eurozone: Past, Present and Future” at an event hosted by the Institute for European and International Affairs at .
Attended by over a hundred invited guests, attendees included the members of the Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis and the media. It was broadcast live on TV.
Chairman of the Institute, Brendan Halligan, presided and introduced President Trichet and two respondents to the address, Dr Michael Somers, Vice-Chairman, AIB, and Professor Gavin Barrett of the UCD School of Law.
Following the lecture and the responses, President Trichet answered questions from Institute members and, in separate sessions, from members of the Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis, popularly known in Ireland as “The Banking Inquiry.”
The Oireachtas committee consisted of its Chairman, Ciarán Lynch TD (Labour), and Pearse Doherty TD (Sinn Féin); Senator Seán D. Barrett (Independent); Senator Susan O’Keefe (Labour); John Paul Phelan TD (Fine Gael); Senator Michael D’Arcy (Fine Gael); Eoghan Murphy TD (Fine Gael); Michael McGrath TD (Fianna Fáil); Joe Higgins TD (Socialist Party); Kieran O’Donnell TD (Fine Gael) and Senator Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fáil).
President Trichet gave interviews to the media before returning to Paris.
For a photo gallery of the event, click here or on the image.
At the recent launch for the new book, “Britain and Europe: the Endgame”, Brendan Halligan gave a speech to introduce his contribution at the Institute of International and European Affairs. To view the video, click below.
Britain’s fraught relationship with Europe is analysed in this study prepared by Ireland’s leading think tank, the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).
The third in a series that stretches back over 20 years, the authors argue that the relationship has entered the endgame. If not managed with daring and imagination, it could result in Britain exiting from the European Union, perhaps unwittingly.
The consequences are examined under a number of headings, including: the political and economic future of the United Kingdom; its options for a new external relationship with Europe; the political impact on the European Union; the implications for Ireland, with particular reference to the economy; and on the totality of Irish-British relations, with special attention to the effect on Northern Ireland.
The threat of UK withdrawal requires a unique response. This study proposes a bespoke solution by creating a Union with four cores which would enable Britain to be simultaneously both inside and outside the Union. The proposal has the great merit of dealing with political realities and of preventing a potential disaster for all concerned.
The study closes with a series of recommendations for pre-emptive action by the EU as whole and by Ireland in particular.
The book is edited by Dáithí O’Ceallaigh and Paul Gillespie. It contains chapters by ten contributing authors: Tom Arnold, John Bradley, Tony Brown, Paul Gillespie, Brendan Halligan, Blair Horan, James Kilcourse, John McGrane, Edgar Morgenroth and Dáithí O’Ceallaigh.
It follows two previous books on this theme from the IIEA: ‘Blair’s Britain, England’s Europe – A View from Ireland’ (ed. Paul Gillespie, 2000) and ‘Britain’s European Question: The Issues for Ireland’ (ed. Paul Gillespie, 1996).
The book can be downloaded here.
In an Op Ed piece in the Irish Independent today, Brendan Halligan comments on how Ireland “must fight to keep Britain in the EU” in the country’s Interest.
The article co-incides with the launch today of a new book by the IIEA, Britain and Europe: The Endgame – An Irish Perspective.
“It was David Cameron himself who described what is happening to Britain’s relationship with Europe as “sleepwalking towards the exit”. That’s a pretty accurate description of developments since he became prime minister. Having started out as someone who was fed up with his party banging on about Europe, as he called it, he has finished up as the man who intends to put Britain’s EU membership on the line.
He recently explained why he took the decision to hold a referendum: it was untenable to keep dodging the question he said. The reason for that, as we know, is the rise of Ukip, which wants Britain out of the EU and which is eating into the Conservative Party’s support. Some two-thirds of the Conservative membership also want Britain to leave and it is this combination of forces which is pushing Britain towards the exit, with its eyes shut” … (more…)
