What will happen to the Irish border after "Brexit"? This is one of the main issues in the current negotiations.
Because the Republic of Ireland belongs to the European Union, but Northern Ireland as part of Great Britain - that will no longer be the case.
At the time of the First World War, Irish independence movements were at their height. The British response to this political and armed struggle was legislation aimed at decentralizing the Irish islands but preventing them from becoming independent. The first plans to convene a small parliament for the region in Dublin failed due to the resistance of Northern Irish unionists. They wanted to stay in the UK. After that, two parliaments were installed and the short-lived Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland were created. After a three-year war for independence, the government in London admitted defeat. Thus, in 1922, Southern Ireland left the framework of the Irish Free State - it was no longer part of Great Britain.
When the border between the two parts of the island was determined, the focus was not on geographical factors, but on the political commitment of the inhabitants of certain regions, so that the border sometimes intersected certain municipalities. This was then mitigated by the creation of a kind of miniature forerunner of the Schengen Area – in 1923 residents were allowed to cross the intra-Irish border without a passport in what was then called the Common Travel Area. Because, in order to get from one village to another, people often had to cross the border, which is half drawn in a zigzag line, several times. In addition, County Donegal in the north of the island was connected to the rest of the Republic by a narrow corridor; those who went from there to other parts of the Republic, preferred to go across - through Northern Ireland.
There were hard times
There are a total of 499 border crossings of various sizes on the 300-kilometer long border. The crossings are arranged so that people often do not even notice that they have crossed the border. Greeting boards, which show whether the traveler is currently in Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland, are a rarity. The border was not always so invisible: when violence escalated in the Northern Ireland conflict in 1969, British units took up positions there. The border is secured to prevent the illegal flow of weapons into Northern Ireland from secret camps in the Republic of Ireland.
The British army closed smaller border crossings, destroyed access roads and blew up bridges. The massive restriction of movement revolted many residents of the region and only fueled local nationalism. In a study on Britain's impending exit from the European Union, scientists from the University of Belfast spoke to residents of the border area about their past experiences. "I remember that in order to cover a road that under normal circumstances was four miles, I had to cover 22 miles because of closed roads and bridges. It was very difficult to live then - the British army really harassed us".
A new phase is on the horizon
Despite the 1923 agreement on free travel, goods traffic was always limited in that region. In the beginning, customs stations had the task of restricting the flow of certain types of goods. But due to the Anglo-Irish trade war of the 30s, tariffs were imposed on agricultural products; a little later, and on coal and steel. The measures of the governments in London and Dublin have caused great damage to the border municipalities. Smuggling of goods and illegal trade took off.
The trade war ended in 1936. Nevertheless, border controls remained. They continued even when the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain joined the European Economic Community in 1973, which was the forerunner of the EU. Controls were abolished only in January 1993 with the opening of the common European market zone. With the UK leaving the European Union, that phase of free travel and trade could soon come to an end.
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