Page 10 - Aequitas Europa

9

In its current efforts to maintain confidence in the peace borders, Ireland would probably resist as this would be
held in the region subsequent to the Good Friday viewed as a huge step backwards in any potential Union
Agreement, the British Government published their of Ireland, and immensely costly in terms of the vast
‘Northern Ireland and Ireland position paper’ in August amount of cross-border employment and trade.
21
2017 . In this the government sought to pacify fears of
the British reverting to a ‘hard’ border, by assuring that History of Conflict
the Good Friday agreement would be upheld, that the
Common Travel Area (CTA) and rights associated would For centuries there has been conflict between the UK and
be continued, the avoidance of a form of hard border for Ireland, from the Norman Invasion of the North to
25
26
the transit of goods and a general effort to keep a Oliver Cromwell’s conquest of Ireland and it might be
cooperation between North-South (NI – Ireland) and East- said that this has continued until the Good Friday
22
West (Ireland-UK). Agreement. Following Cromwell’s victory, heavy English
Whilst not commonly met with outright derision, a large (or Anglo-Scots) governance was imposed throughout the
amount of reviews of this paper found much within it island; executions and the confiscation of lands held by
worthy of criticism: a great difficulty was seen as Britain’s Catholics being extremely widespread. The practice of
assertion that the free transit of goods from the EU will Catholicism was banned with various Penal Laws being
27
be continued, although the UK government also imposed against most of the population . With the
advertises its post-Brexit position as being one of its strength of the Protestant administration giving them
(supposed) independent trade agreements with America confidence, the acceleration of Scottish Protestant
and China. Such a position is placed as being one of migration was evident, in the main to the north. This
arrogance and fantasy, with Britain somehow believing ongoing migration into the region of Ulster and thereby
that it can assert unilaterally just how UK-EU agreements increase in the population meant that the Protestant faith

concerning Brexit will be made 23 24 and thereby it’s moved from being the faith of the conquerors to that of
position with regard to Ireland. the majority in several counties. This is still the position
In contrast with this stance of the UK’s, it has been noted many centuries on today; the name Ulster, whilst being
that in any form of UK-EU Brexit agreement, the Irish the Irish term for a region across more counties than just
Republic has the right to veto, inferring a need for the UK Northern Ireland, is symbolic of the Protestant Irish, or
to colour its general proposal for Brexit with certain ‘Ulstermen’.
suggestions which are seen as attractive to the Irish For the Catholic populace, the ongoing desire for the
Republic; as discussed, those of soft borders, CTA and removal of the imposed rule from Britain over Ireland
elements of the Good Friday Agreement may be among kept a continual form of rebellion going for centuries;
them. Of course, this veto might equally be used to ineffective for much of the time, it solidified in the
scupper any form of proposal coming from the EU emergence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and their
themselves (as happened initially with the Lisbon Treaty), uprising in 1916. This was followed by the bloody Anglo-
which Ireland sees as to their detriment. Should the EU Irish conflict until the election of 1918 which was won by
for instance seek to ‘punish’ the UK and deter further a huge majority by Sinn Fein (‘Ourselves’), the party who
dissent or exits from the Community by building hard sought to find an Irish Republic. They then created Dail
Eireann (‘Assembly of Ireland’) as their breakaway

th
21 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern-ireland-and- 25 Late 12 century – mainly 1169-1171
ireland-a-position-paper accessed 20/01/2018 26 1649-1653, following from the Irish Rebellion of 1641, resulting in the
22 Within the position paper above (footnote 34) the UK draws attention to Catholic Confederation – itself superseding the English administration
unique examples of trade and movement between the EU and exterior States, imposed since Elizabethan conquest from 1603.
such as Cyprus, the Schengen group and the Croatia-Bosnia border. Further to 27 These were many and varied, with more being passed by the British
this, the attention drawn to historical arrangements with micro-states, might Government over subsequent centuries ( Bills 1692-1800 ref ‘Popery’, Irish
be looked into, with examples of exterior territories, dependencies and Legislation Database,
‘departments’ of EU states, such as Spains Ceueta and Mlilla – which are www.qub.ac.uk/ild/?func=advanced_search&search=true&bill_number&searc
disputed areas in North Africa, surrounded by Morocco - or various of h_string=&search_string_type=ALL&search_type=any&session_from=1692&s
France’s, such as St Pierre & Miquelon - effectively in Canada’s Newfoundland ession_to=1800&enacted_search=all&subjects=412%7C&submit.x=53&submi
- who’s citizens are French, thereby EU nationals. t.y=5 retrieved 20/01/2018); a renowned one being the Act of Settlement
23 FT Henry Mance, John Murray Brown, 1701, finally being repealed by the Succession to the Crown Act 2013. The
https://www.ft.com/content/)ef1b2a6-8272-11e7-a4ce-15b2513cb3ff , Government of Ireland Act 1920 [s.5(2)] had finally repealed all legal
accessed 21/01/2018 discrimination against Catholics in Ireland, other than that of the Act of
24 LSE, Etain Tannam, blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2017/08/17/uk-position-paper-on- Settlement.
northern-ireland-and-ireland-is both-conciliatory-and-vague/ accessed
21/01/2018