More Than the Border? Looking at Brexit through Irish Eyes

Abstract

During the first phase of the Brexit negotiations the question of Northern Ireland’s border with the Irish Republic emerged from decades of political obscurity to become one of the major themes of the controversy surrounding Britain’s future relationship with the European Union. Existing freedoms to act have been called into question not only by Brexit, but also by the Irish government’s determined positioning alongside its fellow member states of the EU around the negotiating table. The chapter looks at three aspects of Anglo-Irish relations. Initially it considers the development and current state of these relationships during the opening phases of the Brexit negotiations. The chapter continues by assessing the debate about Brexit amongst Irish policy-makers and commentators and how this has subsequently fed into political and cultural debates in Britain as well. It concludes by looking at how these assessments by Irish politicians and cultural commentators go beyond the immediate issues of the future of Anglo-Irish relations and pose existential questions about the nature of contemporary Britain.