Spilling the tea on Anglo-Irish relations.

Written By Tom Kelly – Senior Consultant

Writing about the complexity of Anglo-Irish relations could start in 1169 but our story begins in 1794 in Georgian Dublin, then known as the second city of the British Empire. A Dublin-born silversmith, Gustavus Byrne fashioned an ornate silver teapot. After 150 years this exquisite teapot ended up in an antique shop. More on this later…  

It’s 1980: Anglo-Irish relations were at an all-time low, a pivotal year marked by the Hunger Strikes. The leaders in Dublin and London – Charles J. Haughey and the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher – were both autocratic, yet they were polar opposites.  

However, Haughey had a novel plan to woo Thatcher. He had tea on his mind! Haughey personally selected Byrne’s 18th-century Irish silver teapot as his gift. Thatcher was astounded.  

Against all odds, these fiercely patriotic individuals decided to cooperate by setting their respective cabinet colleagues to work with their counterparts. This led to the establishment of the practice of a UK-Ireland annual summit. 

It would take two further administrations to build on the work of Haughey and Thatcher. While Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern receive the lion’s share of praise for their incredible personal partnership and the development of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, credit is also due to the rather more precarious administrations of John Major and John Bruton. 

The unlikely spark over a silver teapot laid the foundations for the watershed piece of legislation known as the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, to the Downing Street Declaration in 1994 and eventually the internationally recognised Good Friday/Belfast Agreement (GFA) in 1998.  

The Agreement brought with it increased infrastructure to support not only enhanced relationships between the UK and Ireland and the devolved regions. 

So, what went wrong? 

It would be easy to simply say Brexit but post the GFA, successive British governments began neglecting the East-West dimensions. 

But the advent of a new Labour Administration under Keir Starmer, followed by the re-election of the Irish coalition led by Micheál Martin meant there was an opportunity for a relationship reset. 

Both countries reaffirmed their commitments as co-guarantors to all strands of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. 

Prime Minister Starmer announced the resetting of this relationship was a priority, and there would be a new UK-Ireland summit, which would sit outside the framework of the East/West Strands of the GFA. 

The first UK-Ireland summit was held in March this year, and reflecting its importance, the respective Prime Ministers were accompanied by senior cabinet ministers from various departments, including Justice, Home Office, Energy, Health, Defence, and Science.  

Ireland is the UK’s sixth-largest trading partner, and the UK is Ireland’s second-largest trading partner. In terms of food, drink, and horticulture, the UK serves as Ireland’s primary market. 

The summit was accompanied by a real-time investment announcement of approximately £185.5 million from Irish businesses into the UK, creating approximately 2,500 jobs. 

The reset of UK-Ireland relations is ambitious and sets in place a programme of cooperation which will last until 2030. 

In business, investment, and trading terms, the summit identified areas for joint ventures and information/expertise sharing, including clean energy, finance, hi-tech manufacturing, construction, AI, and security. 

The two governments have established architecture for the initiative through the creation of a Steering Group led by the Cabinet Office and the Department of Taoiseach. 

This unique relationship, which was unthinkable just a few years ago, marks a significant milestone.