Brexit : British people are asked to draw the Irish border...what could go wrong ?

[OnDoutside]

Could you draw Ireland's border with Northern Ireland? The border with Northern Ireland has become a major Brexit stumbling block.

Link to tweet

[Demsrule86]

1. If England leaves the EU...which is suicidal...than

Ireland will reunited and become one country and remain in the EU...I would add that Southern Ireland was and is separated from Northern Ireland since the 1920's.

[zipplewrath]

4. Scotland, Ireland, Gibraltar

All three could seek to leave the UK and join the EU. Interestingly, all three could seek to form some sort of "confederation" in order to "stay" in the EU instead of having to "leave". It could actually make Brexit quite easy. The confederation would functionally become the "new UK", and England/Wales would be cut out by a negotiation between the confederation and the old UK. Leaves the EU generally out of the whole mess.

[OnDoutside]

6. That would be blocked by Spain, who would see that as a threat to their control of Catalonia.

[OnDoutside]

5. You'd have a civil war before that would happen. All parties agreed to the Good Friday Agreement,

that any united Ireland could only come about through a Border Poll where a majority is in favour. I can't see that majority happening, whether it is the Unionist population voting against it or us in the South, who would be worried about the economic cost of such a move.
You make a great point about the separation since 1922, we in the South have our own separate identity. If you go to Belfast, it feels like any British city.

[zipplewrath]

8. Economics

Ireland has the least economic incentive for this at this point. They are already EU and will remain that way. Northern Ireland on the other hand is going to find itself in a situation where they don't have the access to the EU markets and that may hurt. Gibraltar's problem is that as much as they'd like to stay with the UK, Spain will now be free to make their lives miserable. Finding a way to stay in the EU fixes much of that. Ireland of course has some sentimental reasons to accept NI back into the fold. And it has often been suggested that much of the troubles were able to be overcome because EU laws prevented much of the excesses that exacerbated them. Rejoining the EU through Ireland would help maintain that balance. Scotland is the real outlier. They won't/can't have much of an economy on their own. Joining the Irish in any sense would only help marginally, especially in a confederation sense. And admittedly, the limitations on EU countries negotiating their own deals with other markets would be a problem for some of Scotland's markets with the (remaing and shrinking) UK.

[Demsrule86]

9. I don't think so.

It is time. Both side will lose big if Britain leave the EU...I think it will happen.

[Denzil_DC]

2. Some Brits can't cope with UK internal borders, let alone one with a neighboring country.

In the Scottish independence context, I've lost count of the number of times huffy and/or hostile English people have ranted about wanting to reinstate Hadrian's Wall.

Fine - if they want to gift Scotland a considerable (and beautiful) swath of northern England!

[pampango]

3. Younger Europeans in general don't seem to know as much about borders and nationalism

as older folks know. When you grow up with everyone living and working together, it is probably harder to get excited about drawing lines on a map to keep people apart.

[Hekate]

7. Bejaysus, what could possibly go wrong with that idea?