Republic of Ireland threatens 'seamless' N.I. border, with permanent Armed Support Unit

The Irish deploy armed police permanently to Northern Ireland border area

Where is the EU on this hardening of the border by the Irish, unconnected with Brexit?

One of the three red line issues which the EU has used to prevent a rational and reasonable Withdrawal Agreement and trade deal with the United Kingdom has been the border between Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and the Republic of Ireland. The EU has claimed constantly that it respects the Good Friday Agreement and accuses the UK of jeopardising it.

We can now reveal that the Republic of Ireland has been increasing its armed presence in the border area between the Republic and Northern Ireland for the last year. This has culminated in the deployment of a crack group of some 25 armed Irish Gardai officers to patrol the border with Fermanagh.

This all began in September last year (2019) – long before the UK-EU trade talks even started. In September of this year (2020) Garda Commissioner Drew Harris told members of Cavan’s Joint Policing Committee that work was almost finished on a new base for the unit, which is to become permanent. According to local media sources there will be five sergeants and up to 25 officers permanently assigned to the base, patrolling the border around Fermanagh.

This is now an armed border again, and not an invisible one

In view of the sensitivity of all discussions relating to the status of Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, and the citizens of both countries, we wish to make it clear that there are at present no permanent physical barriers at the border itself.

Nevertheless, the presence of so many armed police from the Republic patrolling the border in the Fermanagh area cannot be said to contribute to a frictionless line between the Republic and Northern Ireland. If citizens of each country are subject to being stopped on a regular basis, then this is hardly seamless.

We must stress that this measure by the Gardai is unrelated to Brexit, and unrelated to the Coronavirus.

In addition to the above, the Irish police announced on 26 September 2020 that they would forthwith be operating “rolling cross-border checkpoints” in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Where are the EU on this? Where are the howls of outrage from Brussels?

At no time has the United Kingdom proposed any similar move of a permanent armed police unit that would ‘harden’ the border. The UK has also said that it will not introduce any hard border as a result of Brexit.

So far there has not been one word from the EU about the new permanent armed border presence by the Republic of Ireland.

The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has always been the No.1 ‘red line’ which the EU has used to punish the UK – both in the Withdrawal Agreement and in the subsequent trade negotiations. The EU Commission, EU Parliament, and EU Council has used it to paralyse the prospect of any reasonable agreement between the EU27 and the United Kingdom, and has in effect weaponised what was a very long, painful, and sensitive peace process on the island of Ireland.

We look forward to a very prompt statement from the EU Commission about the Irish Republic’s actions.

The truth about the EU’s fictitious Northern Ireland issue

Newer readers – either members of the public or MPs - may wish to read our now-famous one-pager on the Irish question. We were able to secure the endorsements of eight other Brexit organisations for this work.

It summarises “Why the Irish Border is No Barrier to a Brexit Deal” and is full of facts. We recommend it to everyone.

Right: Click on the image to download our one-page PDF.

Observations

The border issue was always first and foremost about the free movement of people. There has always been a border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland because of the different VAT rates, personal tax rates, corporation tax, fuel rates, national laws, and many other things.

If the Irish Gardai are deploying a permanent and significant armed presence to the border, with the reasons having nothing to do with Brexit, this means stopping and checking people. And it’s an EU member state – the Republic of Ireland – that is doing this.

If the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is not being broken by the introduction of a permanent armed Irish police unit then how can the absence of British customs checks on the Irish Border constitute a threat to the Agreement?

The truth can only be that there is no proposed breach of the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement by the United Kingdom in the event of no (free trade) deal with the EU – or that if there is a breach it is being made by the Irish Government.

The hypocrisy and duplicity of the EU

Naturally we are not commenting on the need for an armed police presence in response to public need. What we are highlighting is that the actions of the Republic are contributing to an inevitable ‘hardening’ of the border – something about which the EU has always taken a holier than thou attitude.

The EU played virtually no part in the Northern Ireland peace process, even though it sometimes tries to make it sound as if it is the guarantor of (relative) peace there. Aside from the governments of the UK and RoI and the leaders of the respective political parties in Northern Ireland, it was Senator George Mitchell and the US which played a pivotal role, not the EU.

The court of world opinion

It is our opinion that most international politicians and commentators – if they were told the facts – would support the United Kingdom over the Northern Ireland issue. It just takes the Government to start communicating properly about such matters.

This is one of the reasons that we sent two of our most recent reports to President Trump, Vice-President Pence, Presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. You can read them here and here.

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[ Sources: A confidential source from N.I. | Northern Sound | Fermanagh Herald ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat Oct 2020

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Reader Comments 10

1. David G , Saturday, October 10, 2020, 07:27:

I think Brexit will be blamed for food shortages and medicine shortages. But it's all just a distraction to usher in a one world government.

2. Steve Jackson , Saturday, October 10, 2020, 07:32:

The EU are only interested in laws and agreements that benefit them everything else is irrelevant.

3. Butties , Saturday, October 10, 2020, 20:51:

I think you do a disservice to Mo Mowlam in not recognising her contribution to the 'Peace Process' and the GFA.
REPLY FROM BREXIT FACTS4EU.ORG TEAM:
Yes, very fair point. However there were others too, but we didn't want to single out each person individually.

4. Not4EU, London , Sunday, October 11, 2020, 00:07:

The simple fact that the EU does not consider a patrolled border by Eire a breach of the GFA & perfectly acceptable activity is further proof that the WA, with the NI Protocol front & centre, was intentionally drawn up in bad faith to carve up & retain a foothold of power within the UK by refusing acceptance of normal country security by the UK which does not apply equally to the EU (as represented by Eire). The WA needs to be ripped up. There is more than enough evidence of bad faith. That our Govt is not does not indicate to me that they are not
a) acting in our & the UK's interests, and
b) are deliberately undermining the democratic decision to leave the EU properly.
The only times that a 'hard' border has been on the island have both been instigated by the Irish Govt. The first was during the BSE scandal & more recently using the scamdemic as an excuse.
We are watching & judging.

5. Rick O'shey , Sunday, October 11, 2020, 14:01:

What's going on on the border side of the republic. https://facts4eu.org/news/2...
If the Brits had done that everyone would have been screaming about it.
I hope the Republic/E.U. don't start getting ideas of annexing N.Ireland.
Now that would start the whole shabang off again.

6. JonL , Sunday, October 11, 2020, 16:11:

Rick O'shey: I think you make a very good point, but I think the real danger in NI is something blowing up by accident rather than design. It's pretty clear that the EU is willing to flirt with coded threats of something bad happening in NI if the UK does not conform to any and all interpretations of the WA that the EU chooses to come up with, but I do not think that annexation is on the immediate agenda. Apart from the SF/IRA crazies, annexation has usually been an "eventually" thing to happen once NI voters have been softened up. The real danger IMHO is that the EU position may accidentally spark off violence by people who don't have the EU's patience.

7. Brexiter Braintree Essex , Sunday, October 11, 2020, 17:26:

S/F has always advocated a United Ireland its their policy,the fact is Ireland couldn't afford a united country.Northern Ireland receives support from the UK mainland to the tune of some £12 billion a year.NI has lower food prices,the free NHS,lower taxes,and they are British.
The probable reason for an increased Gardai presence is more likely to combat fraud across the porous border.As taxes in the Republic of Ireland are so high, smuggling on a grand scale takes place moving contraband petrol,oil,cattle,and alcohol from NI to the Republic.Smuggling along this border has gone on for generations,long before both the UK and the Republic joined the EU.

8. JonL , Sunday, October 11, 2020, 18:12:

Brexiter Braintree Essex: mentions something that the Press consistently get back to front. Because of high taxes and high external tariffs in the EU - meaning the ROI in this case - it makes economic sense to smuggle goods - goods, not arms and drugs - from NI *to* the ROI, but not vice-versa.
This means that the EU and the Republic have every economic motive for hardening and policing the NI/ROI border, and the UK has no economic reason for doing so.
The only UK motive for policing the border is to interdict the arms and drugs trade, which does not follow ordinary economic rules, and that would be a normal and internationally supported measure, so long as the EU and ROI were willing to cooperate.
We should all hope that following the end of the Transition Period, the EU does not decide to use finger-pointing over drugs and arms security operations as part of its sovereignty offensive against the UK. The UK will have to continue to protect itself from arms and drug smuggling quite independently of Brexit.

9. Jon, Wales , Monday, October 12, 2020, 01:04:

Let us be in no doubts whatsoever that prior to June 2016, the NI border was not an issue.
So the blame for this escalation should lay squarely at the feet of the unaccountable EU Commission, and Mr Barnier for weaponising the border non-issue to suit their own purposes because they remain upset the UK has [almost wholly] left their expensive corrupt construct.
I sincerely hope the peoples of the remaining EU27 can see these disgraceful actions with their eyes wide open, as one has to consider who wants to be part of an EU membership that dictates to, and threatens member countries, which by definition threaten populations of each.
One must question why the leaders of free peoples of the EU27, refuse to give their respective citizens a Brexit-styled referendum?
In the meantime, I trust the unelected, unaccountable, EU elites reflect on their disgraceful behaviour towards their major customer?
We in the UK must support our economy through these challenging times by BUYING BRITISH to assist OUR farming and fishing sectors.

10. Huw Morgan , Tuesday, October 20, 2020, 01:24:

Don’t forget that Commissioner Drew Harris was DCC of the PSNI so deploying 25 armed officers from the Garda is likely to have been agreed with his former colleagues as necessary to fight organised crime masquerading as Republicanism. With a weaker £ to € rate post BREXIT and the potential of lower VAT rates on goods coming into the U.K. from abroad, even more Irish citizens will be attracted to come north for their shopping. This is what the EU fears - consumers buying cars and high value goods in Northern Ireland and bringing them across an invisible border. With a foot in both camps, Northern Ireland could prosper and get ready for booze cruises to Dublin from GB!

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