Shared Island Research

The Shared Island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach is progressing a wide-ranging research programme to examine the political, social, economic and cultural considerations of a shared future for all communities and traditions on the island, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

Deepening beneficial all-island cooperation and enhancing civic connections and understanding are key areas of focus. North/ South and East/West partnership is central to the approach.

The programme is providing both a stronger evidence-base along with a rigorous analysis to inform inclusive civic and political discussion on a shared future on the island of Ireland.

To date, more than 40 reports have been published as part of the programme.

On 28 May 2025, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD gave the keynote address at the Research on a Shared Island conference, marking four years of the joint research programme between the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Department of the Taoiseach’s Shared Island unit. The Taoiseach also announced a new phase of the joint research programme as part of the Shared Island Initiative, with a focus on strategic policy and cooperation considerations for both jurisdictions on the island.

Since 2021, the joint research programme – 'The Economic and Social Opportunities from Increased Cooperation on the Shared Island' – has produced 16 research reports, which are adding to understanding of current and potential linkages across the island of Ireland in a range of economic, social and environmental domains.

Research published during 2024-2025 included:

Sharing the Island: Economic and Social Challenges and Opportunities: Evidence from an ESRI Research Programme On 28 April 2025, as part of the Research on a Shared Island conference, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD launched an overarching report – ‘Sharing the Island: Economic and Social Challenges and Opportunities: Evidence from an ESRI Research Programme’. This research synthesises key findings from the 15 previous programme reports under the joint ESRI-Department of the Taoiseach Shared Island research programme. It brings out interlinkages between the reports and highlights and reflects on implications for policy learning for the island in the future. The final research is available here.

Economic Overview of Ireland and Northern Ireland On 15 April 2025, the ESRI published a report providing a high-level comparison of the economies of Ireland and Northern Ireland in recent years, covering a broad range of dimensions including demographics and labour market trends, living standards, economic structures, education, health, and overall wellbeing. The research recognises that the economies North and South on the island are distinct in important structural respects, and therefore direct comparisons between the two will not always be on a like-for-like basis.  Nevertheless, the research provides a range of important insights on the relative performance of both economies over recent years and allows for differences to be better understood. The final research is available here.

Child Poverty on the island of Ireland On 16 January 2025, the ESRI published research comparing child poverty in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Using a mixed-methods approach with harmonised national survey data, as well as consultations with stakeholders, it finds that throughout 2004-2023, child income poverty levels were somewhat higher in Northern Ireland, while child material deprivation rates were higher in Ireland for most of the period examined (2010-2023), and at a comparable level in 2023. The report highlights the range of welfare, educational, and labour market supports that impact and are needed to address child poverty in both jurisdictions. The final research is available here and the launch webinar is available here.

Drivers of Income Inequality in Ireland and Northern Ireland On 18 October 2024, the ESRI published research identifying the drivers of income inequality in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Drawing on 2019 data, the research finds that differences in inequality in market, or pre-tax and transfer income, in the two jurisdictions are driven by two counteracting forces. The final research is available here and the launch webinar is available here.

Previous reports under the ESRI-Department of the Taoiseach Shared Island research programme include:

• Gender and Labour Market Inclusion on the island of Ireland (April 2024) – slides from the launch available here.
• Contrasting Housing Supply in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom (January 2024) – slides from the launch available here.
• Changing Social and Political Attitudes in Ireland and Northern Ireland (November 2023) – the launch webinar is available here.
• Student Mobility in Ireland and Northern Ireland (September 2023) – slides from the launch available here.
• Comparing Migrant Integration in Ireland and Northern Ireland (March 2023) – A highlight video of the launch is available here and the slides are available to download here.
• Early Childhood Education and Care in Ireland and Northern Ireland (January 2023) – launch webinar is here.
• All-Island Coordination of Energy Infrastructure and Renewable Energy Supports (December 2022) – launch webinar is here.
• Modelling Productivity Levels in Ireland and Northern Ireland (November 2022) – launch webinar is here.
• A North-South Comparison of Education and Training Systems: Lessons for Policy (April 2022) – launch webinar is here.
• An Analysis of the Primary Care Systems of Ireland and Northern Ireland (March 2022) – launch webinar is here.
• Enhancing the Attractiveness of the island of Ireland to High-value Foreign Direct Investment (December 2021) – launch webinar is here.
• Cross-border Trade in Services (December 2021) – launch webinar can be viewed here.

The National Economic and Social Council, at the request of the Department of the Taoiseach, undertook a programme of research in 2021 to produce a comprehensive report on Shared Island issues for the Government, to inform the development of the Shared Island Initiative as a whole of Government priority. The report Shared Island: Shared Opportunity was launched in April 2022. This report can be viewed here.

The report makes 3 overarching conclusions:

- First, there is very significant support, in practice, for an all-island approach to key economic, social, environmental, and wellbeing challenges.

- Second, climate change and biodiversity loss provide a clear and urgent platform for ambitious all-island action and collaboration.

- Third, the factors which are shaping current and future collaboration are a shared agenda, resources, political certainty and support, legislative and regulatory coherence, and collaborative projects.

The report makes specific recommendations across five key areas in relation to the economy and investment, social policy, climate and biodiversity, wellbeing measurement and data co-ordination.

The Government will positively consider NESC’s recommendations, consulting with the Northern Ireland Executive and UK Government on the identified opportunities to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation on the island of Ireland, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

More information on the NESC work and publications to date on Shared Island can be viewed here.

On 14 April 2021, the Irish Research Council (IRC), in partnership with the Department of the Taoiseach, opened the first call for applications for academic research related to the Government’s Shared Island Initiative.

Eleven awards, with a maximum value of €20,000 each, were made under the New Foundations programme, funded by the Shared Island unit of the Department of the Taoiseach.

On 10 May 2022, a further call opened and eight awards were made, again with a maximum value of €20,000 each.

The approved projects will contribute new knowledge or perspectives to inform the Government’s objectives and commitments on a Shared Island and involve North/South, East/West or relevant international collaboration.

Full details of both the 2021 and 2022 research projects can be found here, and you can read more about their impact here.

The Shared Island unit partnered with the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South (SCoTENS), on a call for research undertaken over 2021-2023.

The SCoTENS - Shared Island research partnership funded five projects on teacher education, across two areas:

- Enhancing educational attainment: sharing experience and learning on a shared island.

- How we teach: acknowledging, understanding and learning with others and from others on a shared island.

This research will contribute to enhanced understanding and inform professional and policy development considerations on a shared island basis.

All five projects have now been published:

EDUCATE - Educating about Difference Uniting Classrooms and Teacher Education (November 2024).

CRiTERiA – Cultural Responsivity in Teacher Education Research in Action (October 2024).

SRASI – Shared Responsibility Across a Shared Island: Teaching social justice in initial teacher education (October 2023).

SHARED – Student Hopes: Achievement, Research, Equity and Diversity (October 2022).

BUDDIES – BUilding BriDges, Diminishing Educational DiSadvantage (October 2022).

You can read about each of these projects here.

The Shared Island unit commissioned independent scoping research by Professor Deirdre Heenan on Collaborating on Healthcare on an All-Island Basis, a discussion paper contribution for the Shared Island Dialogue on Health, held on 8 July 2021.

The Shared Island unit has also co-funded research with the Department of Defence on ‘Advancing a Focused Cross-Border Approach to Public Service Messaging in Emergency Management’, which was published in June 2024 and is available here. Further work on ‘Communicating for Impact: Public Safety Messaging for Border Communities’ and ‘Advancing a Focused All-Island and Cross-Border Approach to Planning for Recovery in Strategic Emergency Management’, is expected to be completed in 2025.

Updates on further work commissioned as part of the Shared Island research programme will be provided here.