Tension over Northern Ireland’s border issues is hampering Brexit talks
What is the history of Ireland?
Ireland is an island that lies to the west of the British mainland and has two separate politically independent territories.
Northern Ireland which is about 1/6th of the total island is a part of the UK and is administered as a relatively autonomous region.
The rest of the island forms the ‘Republic of Ireland’ and is an independent sovereign nation since 1922.
Religious Tensions - The Republican Ireland has a predominantly catholic population of native Irish dissent.
Contrarily, Northern Ireland has a Protestant majority of British dissent, with a significant Catholic minority of Irish dissent.
Between 1960s and 1990s, Northern Ireland saw political tensions between pro-UK protestant unionist and Catholic nationalists.
While the former had the backing of the government and were wealthy, the latter wanted to merge with the Republican South.
After prolonged negotiations, the 1998 “Good Friday Agreement” ended tensions to a great extent.
What has been the island’s relationship with the EU?
Economic Integration - Both the Republic of Ireland and UK (thereby Northern Ireland) became members of the “European Economic Community (EEC)” in 1973.
EEC later evolved to become the EU and also to a great extent helped to ease the tensions between the Unionists & Nationalists.
Currently, over 35,000 people and 6,000 trucks cross the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Current Situation - As Britain is set to leave the EU, it will also be exiting the single market and customs union.
Hence, the future relationship between Republican Ireland and Northern Ireland is currently a challenging puzzle to solve.
The Irish question was brought up by some top politicians even before the Brexit Referendum but remains unresolved as yet.
The political sensitivity around the Irish question could potentially lead to a resurgence of violence, if issues aren’t addressed in time.
What are the challenges ahead?
The Irish Demand - Ireland’s case is currently being prioritised over all else in the Brexit negotiations.
Irish PM Leo Varadkar has demanded a soft border that would facilitate unhindered trade, and EU has stood firm with him.
The Problem - If Northern Ireland was to remain within the EU customs union (common market), an internal barrier between Northern Ireland and the British mainland would be required.
But the unionist DUP (major party in Northern Ireland), has categorically opposed this.
It has stated that it doesn’t want Northern Ireland to be seen as different from the rest of the U.K. in anyway.
UK has hence said that the entire deal needs to be clear before any equations with the Republic of Ireland are worked out.
Other Aspects - The tensions over Ireland have overshadowed progress on other issues of the Brexit deal.
Notably, many of the issues were resolved after significant compromises by UK.
The leave side in Brexit sought to position the process as a U.K.-centric to take back sovereign control.
This hasn’t happened as concerns of other member-states have taken prominence with little room for Britain to negotiate.
