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1 1 (March 12, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govcivz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Researh Sevice Northern Ireland, Brexit, and the Irish Border March 12, 2018 As the 20th anniversary of the April 1998 peace accord for Northern Ireland (known as the Good Friday Agreement or the Belfast Agreement) approaches, concerns are increasing about how the expected exit of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU)-or Brexit-might affect Northern Ireland. The future of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has become a central issue in the UK's withdrawal negotiations with the EU. Once the UK ceases to be a member of the EU-likely in March 2019-Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK to share a land border with an EU member state (Ireland and the UK both joined the EU in 1973). Agreeing upon arrangements for the post- Brexit UK-Irish border is particularly challenging because of Northern Ireland's history of political violence. Roughly 3,500 people died during the Troubles, the 30-year sectarian conflict between unionists (Protestants who largely define themselves as British and support remaining part of the UK) and nationalists (Catholics who consider themselves Irish and may desire a united Ireland). UK, Irish, and EU leaders have pledged repeatedly that they will seek to avoid a hard border (with customs and security checks) on the island of Ireland to help preserve the peace process and extensive cross-border economic ties. Many in Ireland and the EU, however, question whether and how this will be possible if the UK continues to pursue a hard Brexit outside of the EU's single market and customs union. (See also CRS Report RS21333, Northern Ireland: Current Issues and Ongoing Challenges in the Peace Process, and CRS Report RL33105, The United Kingdom: Background, Brexit, and Relations with the United States.) Peace, the EU, and the Border In 1998, the EU membership of both the UK and the Republic of Ireland was viewed as underpinning the Northern Ireland peace process by providing a common European identity for unionists and nationalists. In the years since, as security checkpoints were removed in accordance with the peace agreement and because both the UK and Ireland belonged to the EU's single market and customs union, the circuitous 300-mile land border between Northern Ireland and Ireland effectively disappeared. This served as an important symbol on both sides of the sectarian divide and helped to produce a dynamic cross-border economy. Brexit has raised significant political and economic concerns in Northern Ireland (which, unlike the UK overall, voted to remain in the EU). Many experts deem an invisible border as crucial to a still-fragile peace process, in which deep divisions and a lack of trust persist. This situation is evidenced perhaps most Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN10869 CRS }NStGHT Prepaed for Membeivs and Cornm ittees o4 Co q _gress ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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