Prof. Aoife O’Donoghue spoke to Channel 4 News FactCheck about the different options for the Irish border after Brexit.
Since 2005, there have been no checkpoints in place between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The border had once been dotted with British military checkpoints, and their removal was a landmark moment in the peace process that followed the violence of the Troubles.
Today, the only way you know you’ve crossed from one country to the next is a change in road signs from miles- to kilometres-per-hour.
But what happens to that 310-mile stretch of land after the UK leaves the EU is already proving one of the biggest challenges in the Brexit negotiations.
FactCheck takes a look at the options, and what it could mean for the peace process.
Main points:
- A non-existent land border is off the table
- A hard land border: almost inevitable if we leave the EU without a deal
- A one-way land border: possible, but undesirable
- A “soft” land border is the DUP’s preferred option, but Dublin remains unconvinced
- A border in the Irish Sea: theoretically possible, but politically difficult
- The Good Friday Agreement and the Peace Process