I really don’t understand all the fuss about the border issue, as everybody clearly knows what a border is! The whole point of Brexit is the UK be boss of their own borders, obviously accepting that Europe wants to be boss of her own borders too; one border running above the Republic of Ireland and even risking having one along Gibraltar, if the UK steps out. No element of surprise in that whatsoever! And of course, this all doesn’t rule out that one can still do friendly busyness over the border, but it will nevertheless be a border! This means that Ireland will be further developing itself as an EC country and the UK as a non-EC country, both of them drifting apart into different directions. Because, after all, if the UK and Europe don’t head for different directions, there wouldn’t be any point in having a Brexit, would there?
It's to do with the ludicrous Shenghen Agreement - EU member states aren't allowed to have borders. That's okay when the border is between two member states, but a bloody daft idea when one of them isn't a member state (as the UK will be post-Brexit?). And it's a bloody daft idea anyway because nobody will know what kind of individuals are crossing from one state to another; they could be career criminals, or drugs barons, or war lords, or paedophiles, or serial rapists/murderers - you name it! I pointed that out prior to the Shenghen Agreement being signed, but nobody listened to me. Now I know how Pandora must've felt.
Ireland isn't part of the Schengen zone so cerberus' diatribe does not apply in this case. The issue of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland (or the border in Ireland depending on your point of view) relates to a couple of key things: One of the key provisions of the Good Friday Agreement (which is keeping a lid on the worst of the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland) is that there should not be a return to a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. If a physical border infrastructure was to be installed then there is a very high risk of a return to the "troubles" in Northern Ireland in which hundreds of people a year were being killed by sectarian terrorists Prior to joining the EU, there was a Common Travel Area (CTA) between Ireland and the UK which allowed freedom of movement between the two countries. While the UK is a member of the EU this isn't an issue because freedom of movement of people is one of the four freedoms. The UK and Ireland seem to want the CTA to continue post-Brexit but this may then be incompatible with the four freedoms That said, a hard border (with all that may eventually entail in terms of a return to "the troubles" and the effect it may have on businesses in Northern Ireland) is an inevitable consequence if the UK really does want to "get control over our borders". If there is no hard border infrastructure then IMO it's clear that "control over our borders" is just a tool being used by the architects of Brexit to achieve a greater prize. IMO that greater prize is a low tax, low regulation economy in which the 1% or 0.1% are even more able to amass wealth unfettered by "troublesome" regulations that protect workers, the wider population or the environment.
At least I know Ireland isn't part of Schengen... The reason that a hard border is an issue is a UK/Ireland one and the centuries of history that go along with it. A hard border between the UK and any other EU country post-Brexit wouldn't be an issue.
