Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
When I said that religion was not relevant, that is what I meant. Clearly the religious sensitivities in the island of Ireland must be taken into account, which is why the border issue is so sensitive.
However, having said that, I think people are bigging up the issues over the Irish border.
Everyone will come to see very soon that this 'problem' is not a problem at all. It's just hype and the media is exploiting it for all it's worth because they want to keep the Brexit debate going as long as possible. The eventual solution will not exactly be rocket science.
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Neither Protestants nor Catholics want a hard border in Ireland. It's more a case of identity and not religion. Google the FT article I linked to before for a better understanding of the context.
Thinking broadly, there are only three practical solutions:
1) Remain in the EU.
2) NI to become part of the Republic
3) UK or NI has an effective customs union and parts of the single market shared with the EU.
I expect you would rule out 1) and 2) just leaving 3).
The other solutions are unacceptable to the EU so even if they were practical - which they're not - the back stop ie 3) would kick in anyway.
However, as Damien and a few others have wised up to, 3) allows the EU to seamlessly and tariff-free sell us manufactured goods but we can't sell our services to them in the same way. The UK's exports are mainly services, not manufactured goods.
Pretending this is not an issue has no merit. This is not a case of religion where praying enough or believing enough matters. These are practical issues requiring practical solutions and the menu from the EU has been written many moons ago. Grand statements from BoJo won't make the problem go away. They just reveal his ongoing ignorance of detail and disrespect for the people of Ireland.