I have lived here my whole life and therefore am well used to hearing the occasional spicy take from English people on our history, politics and people. However, since the day of the referendum result, what had previously been a steady trickle of uninformed eejitry became a torrential downpour. Suddenly journalists from all over the world came to stand on roads and straddle the invisible border and Conservative politicians came to tell us everything will be fine, while remaining curiously removed from the border communities who will be the hardest hit by any change to the market and customs arrangements of our island. If only a fraction of this attention had been paid before the referendum.
Feature: Community Northern Ireland – Brexit – Equal Marriage
Unfortunately, while opinions on Northern Ireland are ten a penny, solutions are harder to come by. It has become quite evident over the past number of weeks that neither the Prime Minister nor the Cabinet have an agreed plan for how they will square the circle of the Prime Minister’s commitment to ensuring no hard border on the island of Ireland with her red line of leaving the Customs Union and Single Market. With fewer than 70 days until the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal, the people of Northern Ireland are rightly concerned for what our future holds.