Trinity’s Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute has appointed Rory Montgomery, a former EU adviser to the Taoiseach, as a public policy fellow.
During his term as a fellow, Montgomery will focus on Ireland’s place in the EU as well as future relationships on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and the UK.
A statement on the Long Room Hub’s web page said that Montgomery “looks forward to taking part in the Long Room Hub’s public activities and to learning with and from its staff, researchers and other fellows”.
Montgomery graduated from Trinity in 1981, where he was a Scholar and gold medallist in history.
He retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the July 26th this year, having served as Second Secretary General, where he held responsibility for an array of EU issues, including Brexit.
Before this, he filled a multitude of positions in government – including as EU adviser to former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, ambassador to France, Permanent Representative to the EU, and Political Director with responsibility for foreign and security policy.
He was also a member of the Irish delegation that negotiated the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking at an event in Trinity last week, Montgomery said that Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had damaged the principles of “understanding and reconciliation” that formed the basis of the agreement.
He said that while the document has been under strain long before the 2016 votes, Brexit had “damaged the fabric of the Good Friday Agreement”.
He also said that a referendum on giving Irish citizens abroad the right to vote in presidential elections was a “sensitive issue”, and that it may not pass.
“Potentially”, he said, “you have far more people interested in voting living in Northern than living in Britain, let alone in the the US or France or wherever”.
To become a Fellow at Trinity, a candidate must have a scholarship or research achievement of a high order, as well as evidence of their contribution to the academic life of the College and an effective record in teaching.
