"Border buster" shows why Brexit frontier checks in N.Ireland would matter

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"Border buster" shows why Brexit frontier checks in N.Ireland would matter

By Graham Fahy and Helena Williams

 

A plaque in front of the 'border buster' JCB digger is seen on the border near Kinawley in Northern Ireland and Swanlinbar in Ireland, in this still image taken from video on February 6, 2019. REUTERS/Reuters TV

 

KINAWLEY, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Near one of the scores of small border crossings on the island of Ireland, a yellow digger stands as a monument to the lengths communities went to to keep roads open during Northern Ireland's violent "Troubles".

 

Nicknamed the "border buster", it was bought via fundraising by locals for around 3,000 pounds ($3,855) in 1992.

 

They used it to defy a British army policy of closing or destroying back roads and funnelling traffic through military checkpoints that were in place on major roads until a peace deal mostly ended three decades of violence six years later.

 

The digger, now on a dais and marked by a plaque, shows why the 500 km (350 mile) frontier matters so much in the debate over how Britain leaves the European Union, and the resistance any checks between British-run Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland could meet.

 

"It developed into a battle of wills," said Dessie McManus, 56, recalling how "men, women and children" spent their Sundays removing concrete barriers or filling in craters just to open the roads up to go to work or church or do their shopping.

 

"We always felt that we had right on our side."

 

London, Dublin and Brussels want to avoid any customs or immigration checks, on what is now an open border, once Britain leaves the EU.

 

But they are unable to agree on the "backstop" or insurance policy that would rule out a hard border, and the United Kingdom is on course to leave the bloc on March 29 without a deal.

 

While police on both sides of the border fear any resulting checkpoints could become a target for hold-out militant groups opposed to the peace accord, the first spark of disorder could just as easily come from locals going about their business.

 

McManus, a beef farmer from Kinawley in the North who lives a six minute drive away in the Irish village of Swanlinbar, says residents will not stand for any sort of intrusion into the normality they have taken for granted over the past 20 years.

 

"Nobody wants to countenance the thought of any checkpoints coming back. People wouldn't accept them," said McManus, fearing that the province's history shows how such resistance can snowball out of control in a very short period.

 

"IMMEDIATE UPROAR"

The sectarian violence that left 3,600 people dead is partly rooted in such an escalation, when 50 years ago British troops were sent to the city of Londonderry to quell unrest over a civil rights campaign launched by the Catholic minority.

 

More recently, Belfast witnessed the worst spell of violence since the conflict ended between Catholic nationalists seeking a united Ireland and pro-British Protestant loyalists: the end of a century-old tradition of flying Britain's Union flag over city hall in 2012 led to weeks of street riots.

 

"There is a fear that actually even something that might begin as a peaceful demonstration could be exploited by people who want to stir up violence and tensions within the community," said Katy Hayward, a lecturer in sociology at Queen's University Belfast.

 

"This is the environment in which you understand the peace process, that actually people from all different perspectives have felt relatively comfortable in Northern Ireland and this is why we've seen such a decrease in violence."

 

The economies north and south have become much more interconnected, so a hardening of the border could affect more people, another potential recipe for discord, said Damian McGenity of the Border Communities Against Brexit protest group.

 

According to InterTradeIreland, the all-island body set up as a result of the 1998 peace accord, cross-border trade in goods has grown at an average rate of 4 percent per year since the border posts came down.

 

"There will be immediate uproar," said McGenity, 45, a part-time farmer and postmaster from the Northern Ireland village of Jonesborough that can be reached faster by car from Ireland's Dublin Airport than it can from the airport in Belfast.

 

"There's been too much talk of a return to violence. It's more about someone in a car or a truck losing their temper with a Garda (police officer) or a customs official and giving him a punch. Then a row starts when that Garda needs more protection. That's going to break out all over the place."

 

For McGenity's neighbours along the eastern Armagh/Louth border, memories of how customs huts transformed into one of the most militarised areas in western Europe are all too real and the return of any kind of hard border inconceivable.

 

"We well know what it would go back to, and the dangers of that, and it only takes a small spark like the re-introduction of whatever the border manifests itself in," said Declan Fearon, 61, chairman of the nearby Dromintee Gaelic sports club.

 

"We are very concerned about that and we never want to countenance leaving that legacy to our grandchildren."

 

($1 = 0.7781 pounds)

 

(Writing by Padraic Halpin; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

 



-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-14

[anterian]

Ulster wants no hard border, neither does Eire nor the UK, so keep the EU out of it and there will not be one.

[RuamRudy]

1 hour ago, anterian said:

Ulster wants no hard border, neither does Eire nor the UK, so keep the EU out of it and there will not be one.

Alternatively, if the UK gives up the nonsense of an increasingly unwanted Brexit, there would be no problem whatsoever. 

[LucysDad]

6 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Alternatively, if the UK gives up the nonsense of an increasingly unwanted Brexit, there would be no problem whatsoever. 

 

 

STILL wet dreaming............... not long to wait now

[Basil B]

Exactly the reason why it would not be possible to have a Brexit without a customs union with NI, if we end up with a No Deal Brexit we will be pushing Ireland back to the last century and it's problems.

and the only ways to achieve this is either:

1. Separate NI from the UK
2. A Customs Union for the whole UK
3. Cancel the unworkable Brexit.

 

 

[RuamRudy]

17 minutes ago, LucysDad said:

 

 

STILL wet dreaming............... not long to wait now

I am not sure that anyone else here is interested in how you are spending your day.

[samran]

1 hour ago, anterian said:

Ulster wants no hard border, neither does Eire nor the UK, so keep the EU out of it and there will not be one.

Um... taking back control of your borders generally means that you, well, control them.

[smedly]

1 hour ago, anterian said:

Ulster wants no hard border, neither does Eire nor the UK, so keep the EU out of it and there will not be one.

what a waste of a news article which has absolutely nothing to do with Brexit or Trade - it refers to a serious security issue that existed years ago were efforts were made to stop explosives and weapons being transported across from the Republic of Ireland into the UK, nothing to do with customs tariffs or trade which can all be managed away from the border, the GFA mentions very little to nothing about the Irish UK border which, it exists today and will continue to exist while N' Ireland remains part of the UK - the way that can be changed is by a majority in the North voting for it - and if they did vote to leave the UK the people need to look very carefully at what they would be getting  - ROI services such as health - policing - local services would be severely degraded because in the ROI they don't come close to what people enjoy in the UK - I have lived in both and the ROI is not even close or nearly as well funded - which is why Irish citizens cross the border the use the NHS   

[smedly]

53 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Alternatively, if the UK gives up the nonsense of an increasingly unwanted Brexit, there would be no problem whatsoever. 

17.4 million people say otherwise

[smedly]

37 minutes ago, Basil B said:

Exactly the reason why it would not be possible to have a Brexit without a customs union with NI, if we end up with a No Deal Brexit we will be pushing Ireland back to the last century and it's problems.

and the only ways to achieve this is either:

1. Separate NI from the UK
2. A Customs Union for the whole UK
3. Cancel the unworkable Brexit.

 

 

absolute nonsense

[Basil B]

13 minutes ago, smedly said:

17.4 million people say otherwise

17.4 million people said otherwise, (past tense).

[evadgib]

5 minutes ago, Basil B said:

17.4 million people said otherwise, (past tense).

Yeah you're right, there's loads more now ????

[Basil B]

3 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Yeah you're right, there's loads more now ????

But you can not prove it and would not like to see another referendum to prove your point, and virtually ever opinion poll on this is lie.

[smedly]

14 minutes ago, Basil B said:

But you can not prove it and would not like to see another referendum to prove your point, and virtually ever opinion poll on this is lie.

we voted leave - get over it

[evadgib]

18 minutes ago, Basil B said:

But you can not prove it and would not like to see another referendum to prove your point, and virtually ever opinion poll on this is lie.

With you lot as recruiting Sgts how could we possibly lose? You're better than Farage on Helium!????

[Basil B]

8 minutes ago, smedly said:

we voted leave - get over it

 

5 minutes ago, evadgib said:

With you lot as recruiting Sgts how could we possibly lose? You're better than Farage on Helium!????

 

And now let's get back to the real world.

[Grouse]

3 hours ago, anterian said:

Ulster wants no hard border, neither does Eire nor the UK, so keep the EU out of it and there will not be one.

Typical epsilon response. Shallow, trite and simplistic beyond words. 

[Grouse]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

17.4 million people say otherwise

Not now they don't 

[fvw53]

3 hours ago, anterian said:

Ulster wants no hard border, neither does Eire nor the UK, so keep the EU out of it and there will not be one.

It would mean an open border - no controls -  between between the UK and the EU ....may-be you suggest a solution like in the arrival areas of  airports ..."nothing to declare = green lane" while " goods to declare = red lane"  /  smugglers are going to make a fortune

 

[gamini]

1 hour ago, smedly said:

17.4 million people say otherwise

but I guess a lot of them regret having voted for breksit. 

[Pilotman]

Hate to state the obvious, but the border is between two different countries, at least for now, so Im not sure why there is an issue in understanding that fact. If the Irish want no border, the solution is also obvious, integrate and become one country, end of problem.

Actually of course, that would be the start of a whole new problem, or a very old one.  The Irish will always find a new way to fight among themselves. Far too many people have died defending the indefensible.   

[luckyluke]

1 minute ago, gamini said:

but I guess a lot of them regret having voted for breksit. 

As there are no data, nobody knows.

 

But we can take for granted that a lot are not pleased at all with the state of affairs going on since the vote.

[robertson468]

2 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Alternatively, if the UK gives up the nonsense of an increasingly unwanted Brexit, there would be no problem whatsoever. 

So you have recently conducted a Brexit poll!_{Or sadly just spouting Remainer nonesense.}

[Chippy151]

17 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Actually of course, that would be the start of a whole new problem, or a very old one.  The Irish will always find a new way to fight among themselves. Far too many people have died defending the indefensible.  

Absolutelty right.

If only the British had left the island of Ireland alone.

But they just couldn't help themselves. 

[androokery]

5 minutes ago, Chippy151 said:

Absolutelty right.

If only the British had left the island of Ireland alone.

But they just couldn't help themselves. 

Yeah I'd say the Irish (i.e. the catholic church) have really lost the right to govern that green island. The solution is of course to integrate the entire island back into the United Kingdom. 

[Pilotman]

11 minutes ago, Chippy151 said:

Absolutelty right.

If only the British had left the island of Ireland alone.

But they just couldn't help themselves. 

That's history for you. 

[Chippy151]

4 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

That's history for you. 

Fighting history.

[Pilotman]

7 minutes ago, Chippy151 said:

Fighting history.

History is all about people fighting other people about something or other that nobody living remembers, or now cares about.  That's because it's always those morons of politicians that decide these things.   

[jesimps]

3 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

Alternatively, if the UK gives up the nonsense of an increasingly unwanted Brexit, there would be no problem whatsoever. 

"Increasingly unwanted"? In your dreams.

 

[jesimps]

1 hour ago, luckyluke said:

As there are no data, nobody knows.

 

But we can take for granted that a lot are not pleased at all with the state of affairs going on since the vote.

On either side I reckon. Just get on with the wishes of the people ie LEAVE!