44
votes
Accepted
Could the same person be First Minister in Northern Ireland and Taoiseach in the Republic of Ireland?
No, under Section 19A of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, as amended by the Disqualifications Act 2000 and the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006, which states that "No person may be ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
29
votes
Accepted
Why doesn't UK consider Ireland a foreign country for the purpose of British law?
Ireland is a foreign country in British Law. But as a result of shared history and a succession of treaties, the two independent countries grant a variety of rights to each others citizens. This is a ...
- 115k
26
votes
Accepted
Brexit and backstop: would changes require unanimous approval by all EU countries? Does Ireland hold a veto?
The withdrawal agreement requires a qualified majority by the remaining EU members (Article 50 section 4).
Any extension of the negotiating period must be unanimous (Article 50 section 3).
EU members ...
- 106k
25
votes
Accepted
What is the improvement of the "legally binding commitment" proposed by Boris Johnson over the existing "backstop"?
Read the wording very carefully.
This Government will not put in place infrastructure, checks, or controls at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. We would be happy to accept a legally ...
- 22k
23
votes
Accepted
What was Jeremy Corbyn’s involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process?
There's no evidence that Corbyn advocates terrorism or other kinds of violence and he has consistently stated his opposition to violence. If "sympathise" means agree, approve, favourable to, support, ...
- 5,106
23
votes
Accepted
What would the EU’s position be with respect to a United Ireland?
The European Council agreed in 2017 (see page 4) that a united Ireland would be part of the EU:
The European Council acknowledges that the Good Friday Agreement
expressly provides for an agreed ...
- 346
21
votes
How is the excise border managed in Ireland?
The UK and Ireland are both part of the EU Single Market and the Common Travel Area. Hence there is no excise duty on goods crossing the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, ...
- 20.7k
17
votes
Why can't UK MPs vote for the Withdrawal Agreement, then renege on the backstop if it comes to that?
I've recently explained the backstop in this answer, a few days ago.
The problem here is that one has to understand that breaching it would also breach the Peace Agreement. Some readers might not be ...
- 7,208
15
votes
Accepted
Does the UK delegate some immigration control to the Republic of Ireland?
The UK and the Republic of Ireland have maintained the common travel area for nearly a century through a series of non-binding agreements. The most recent agreement, in 2011, was the first public one....
- 17.3k
12
votes
What was Jeremy Corbyn’s involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process?
Here is an account of his historical involvement with the NI peace process from Channel 4 factcheckers.
TL;DR: Corbyn was a professional muck-stirrer for most of his career. He took an unpopular ...
- 20.7k
11
votes
How is the excise border managed in Ireland?
Fuel is cheaper in Ireland than in Northern Ireland. So Ireland doesn't have to do anything about it. Northern Ireland would have to do something about it, but currently seems to do nothing, even ...
- 144k
9
votes
Why is a UN Security Council seat important to Canada?
The ten non-permanent seats of the UNSC are distributed on something like a regional basis, but there are elections between the regional candidates. That means getting elected validates the influence ...
- 106k
6
votes
Accepted
Customs checks and Brexit
In a word, yes. The backstop, which this idea is supposed to replace, was only ever intended to be used if the UK and EU could not agree on terms by the end of the transition period (currently ...
- 17.6k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the opinion of Irish nationalists on COVID-related border checks?
Generally, Irish nationalist politicians have been in favour of the checks, although most, if not all, would prefer an all-Ireland response. Without this, though, there seems to be a general ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
5
votes
In the absence of a trade deal, and an amended withdrawal agreement, how will smuggling be prevented across the Irish border?
Initially the EU will probably try legal means to force the UK to enforce a new border down the Irish Sea. If that fails the point may become moot because Northern Ireland votes to rejoin Ireland in a ...
- 17.6k
4
votes
Accepted
In the revised Irish Protocol when would the first Northern Irish consent vote occur?
If I got the math right, the transition ends at the end of 2020, so four years after that is 2024, so in October-November 2024 or so (because it is supposed to happen two months before then end of the ...
- 144k
4
votes
Does a hard border in Ireland necessarily breach the Good Friday Agreement?
Does a hard border in Ireland necessarily breach the Good Friday Agreement?
According to my understanding, a hard border would not literally breach the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), but it would ...
- 15.7k
4
votes
What is the improvement of the "legally binding commitment" proposed by Boris Johnson over the existing "backstop"?
As noted elsewhere in that article, the Conservative political objections to the backstop as defined in the draft Withdrawal agreement are that that it would require Northern Ireland to essentially ...
- 21.1k
4
votes
Why can't UK MPs vote for the Withdrawal Agreement, then renege on the backstop if it comes to that?
(Answer rewritten in response to discussion)
You just assume the FTA negotiations will not fail. Also you have the brain cells to look at the alternative course of action: NO DEAL, wherein we have ...
- 22k
4
votes
Why doesn't UK consider Ireland a foreign country for the purpose of British law?
In 1900 the British Empire was single state in international law and dominions like Canada and Australia had self-government within the British Empire. They did not have separate citizenship laws or ...
- 256
4
votes
Why doesn't UK consider Ireland a foreign country for the purpose of British law?
In addition to the reasons listed in the accepted answer, the migration of Irish citizens to the rest of the UK, over hundreds of years, means that large numbers of UK citizens have Irish ancestry.
...
- 2,941
4
votes
Why did UK and EU agree NI Protocol with clause allowing unilateral action in the event of diversion of trade (DOT) when they knew DOT was inevitable?
We can't be sure exactly what was going through the heads of the negotiators, but we can say some things about motives.
Negotiating against a deadline is essentially a game of chicken: the side that ...
- 20.7k
3
votes
Is there any plausible reading of the DoT terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol under which they are not self-defeating?
Frankly it's not clear to me what you mean by "self-defeating", but since you keep posting these Qs about that article 16, it's worth noting that it has 3 paras, the 2nd one of which ...
- 144k
3
votes
Accepted
If Northern Ireland joins the Republic of Ireland to become a United Ireland, will the Common Travel Area be abolished?
On a purely technical note, since the Common Travel Area includes United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands, a united Ireland leaving it wouldn't automatically cause the area ...
- 21.1k
3
votes
Why can't UK MPs vote for the Withdrawal Agreement, then renege on the backstop if it comes to that?
I would submit that considerations about this are as much or more political then they are practical. From this german's perspective here, the withdrawal agreement has been demonized and defeated in ...
- 317
3
votes
Accepted
The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the revised Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol
No. At least, not that part of the GFA. Customs and Single Market regulations are not a constitutional issue. In fact, the same section of the GFA quoted in full in my opinion makes this clear:
(...
- 5,795
3
votes
Customs checks and Brexit
The withdrawal agreement has not been ratified, and it is very unlikely that it will be in its current form. This is not least because the current government of the UK are opposed to many aspects of ...
- 5,786
3
votes
Why does the UK Parliament allow its members to also be in the Irish Parliament?
It is a consequence of the special relationship between the UK and Ireland. And more generally the relationship between the UK and the Commonwealth (the countries that were formally in the British ...
- 115k
2
votes
Was the e-Borders CTA border management system replaced?
The UK implemented electronic exit checks on 8 April 2015. On March 28 of last year the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration published the report An inspection of exit checks, ...
- 17.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible