The Irish Travellers in the Shadow of Brexit: Conflict Between the European Union and the Council of Europe

Abstract

The EU and the U.K. must re-conceptualize many aspects of their respective laws, institutions, economic sectors, and guiding philosophies in light of Brexit. The ramifications for the U.K.’s withdrawal from the EU are still largely unknown and full of conjecture. One major outcome however may be an increase in tension between the EU and its Court of Justice on one hand, and the European Council and its Court of Human Rights on the other. However, neither the government of the U.K. nor the European Parliament may set this tension in motion. Rather, a small minority residing on the Irish Island has the potential to argue that a hard border separating the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland violates their human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Irish Travellers, a caravan-riding ethnicity distinct from the settled Irish around them, have been traversing the island as per their custom for at least a thousand years, and a hard Brexit would substantially hinder their traditional lifestyle. This paper explores whether and to what degree the Irish Travellers have a justiciable case in the ECtHR and the likelihood that their unique circumstance positions them to make European history.

Keywords: Travellers, E.U., European Union, Brexit, United Kingdom, Ireland, Northern Ireland, European Court of Human Rights, European Council, Indigenous Rights, Border