Can UBI heal community division in Northern Ireland?
The Peace Bridge framed by The Guild Hall (left) and St. Eugene's Cathedral (right)
Image credit - K. Mitch Hodge
Northern Ireland seems to be at a crossroads. The fragile peace of our society secured by the Good Friday Agreement seems like nothing more than a political football to be kicked around by our political leaders, both in Stormont and in Westminster. As we emerge from the fallout of the pandemic, and with continuing political tensions over Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol, there’s a need for calm heads and sensible policymaking to diffuse these growing tensions. All of this is set against a backdrop of an upcoming Assembly election in May – arguably the most important Assembly election since devolution was established in 1998.
But despite these growing tensions there are signs of political collaboration at a local level. A cross-party steering group of local councillors, community groups and researchers are working alongside UBI Lab NI in launching the first ever feasibility study into a Universal Basic Income (UBI) pilot in Northern Ireland.
This project has significant political support from six of the eleven local authorities in Northern Ireland. Belfast Council and Derry & Strabane Council have provided part of the funding for the £95,800 study, with the rest coming from Community Foundation Northern Ireland and European universities.
The study is due to take between nine and twelve months, and will provide the evidential basis for a full-scale UBI pilot in Northern Ireland.
Can UBI support peacebuilding?
This is not first study into UBI across Great Britain or Ireland. Scotland published the results of their own feasibility study in 2020, while both Wales and the Republic of Ireland have also expressed their intent to launch UBI pilots in the next few years.
However, while not the first of its kind, the scope of the feasibility study in Northern Ireland hints at the potential for groundbreaking results with far-reaching consequences.
While most studies on UBI focus on addressing a wide range of social issues – poverty, inequality, financial and mental wellbeing – the research into UBI in Northern Ireland aims to explore the role of a UBI within Northern Ireland’s unique context. As a developed post-conflict society, UBI Lab NI aim to explore UBI’s ‘restorative’ value – that is the extent to which a UBI could heal divisions, improve social bonds and bring people together.
While Northern Ireland has its own economic issues relating to poverty and deprivation, these problems are often compounded by the challenge of ensuring peace, justice and dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.
In their October 2020 Working Paper (PDF, 44 pages), UBI Lab NI proposed exploring UBI as a ‘Peace Dividend’. This paper outlines five important outcomes which a UBI pilot would seek to gather data on to test UBI’s validity as a ‘Peace Dividend’:
Reduced crime and paramilitary activity
More opportunities for young people
Improved mental health and wellbeing
Better community relations
A stronger, fairer economy
Previous studies have demonstrably proved that Universal Basic Income helps alleviate poverty while also promoting mental and financial wellbeing. But if our study proves that UBI can also promote community cohesion and has value as a peacebuilding tool, this will place Northern Ireland at the centre of groundbreaking research in both peacebuilding and UBI.
Asking election candidates to commit to a UBI pilot
We don’t want to wait until the results of the feasibility study are released to start making our case. That is why we’ll also be challenging our would-be MLAs to support a future pilot ahead of May’s Assembly elections. As six out of eleven councils in Northern Ireland have backed trials of UBI, it’s clear that this is an idea with popular local support, and one that should be on the Assembly’s agenda.
Following in the footsteps of our friends in the UBI Lab Network, we’ll soon be launching our very own ‘Pledge For UBI’ campaign. Ahead of 5 May, we’ll be reaching out to candidates seeking election to ask them to support a trial of UBI in Northern Ireland.
Similar pledge campaigns earlier this year in England, Scotland and Wales were a tremendous success, with hundreds of candidates pledging their support for pilots in their constituencies. The campaign even led the Welsh Government to announce their own UBI trial in the next few years.
We hope to emulate that success in the coming months and prove that the Northern Ireland Assembly has the power to be a positive force for change by ushering in a Northern Ireland-wide trial of Universal Basic Income.
Ciaran Donaghy - @CiaranD1990
Ciaran is a Policy professional and researcher in the Energy & Utilities sector based in Northern Ireland.
Ciaran has been campaigning for a UBI pilot scheme in Northern Ireland for nearly two years, co-authoring UBI Lab NI's Working Paper 'Testing a Real Peace Dividend for Northern Ireland' while also sitting on the NI UBI Trial's Steering Group on behalf of UBI Lab NI. The Steering Group, made up of elected representatives, council officers, community groups and academics, has now launched their own feasibility study into trialling UBI in Northern Ireland. The study seeks to explore the 'restorative' value of a UBI in Northern Ireland, acting as a 'Peace Dividend' in healing divisions, improving social bonds and bringing people together.