To the Editor:
Re “How a ‘No Deal’ Brexit Could Create Irish Unity” (news article, Feb. 16):
Twenty years of peace in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement cannot mask the continued commitment of the Irish to the ultimate reunification of Ireland, here in America as well as there.
There are no good options for the British Parliament as it wrestles with what to do about the open border between the two Irelands after Brexit. Either the border remains open, as majorities in both Irelands want, which would mean that Northern Ireland remains in the European Union as the rest of Britain secedes. Or a hard border is reinstated, threatening economic livelihoods on both sides and potentially reigniting the Troubles.
Those of us who are committed to preventing a hard border have been meeting with leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to let London know that we are prepared to bring whatever pressure we can muster against a post-Brexit American-British trade agreement unless the border stays open.
It should be lost on no one that Northern Ireland — along with Scotland, where Brexit has reignited independence passions as well — voted to remain in the European Union. All of the Irish desire to remain in the union, and the British ignore that desire at their peril.
Brian O’Dwyer
New York
The writer, a Manhattan lawyer, is the grand marshal of the 2019 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York.
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | Brexit and the Irish Border
Opinion | Brexit and the Irish Border
To the Editor:
Re “How a ‘No Deal’ Brexit Could Create Irish Unity” (news article, Feb. 16):
Twenty years of peace in the aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement cannot mask the continued commitment of the Irish to the ultimate reunification of Ireland, here in America as well as there.
There are no good options for the British Parliament as it wrestles with what to do about the open border between the two Irelands after Brexit. Either the border remains open, as majorities in both Irelands want, which would mean that Northern Ireland remains in the European Union as the rest of Britain secedes. Or a hard border is reinstated, threatening economic livelihoods on both sides and potentially reigniting the Troubles.
Those of us who are committed to preventing a hard border have been meeting with leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to let London know that we are prepared to bring whatever pressure we can muster against a post-Brexit American-British trade agreement unless the border stays open.
It should be lost on no one that Northern Ireland — along with Scotland, where Brexit has reignited independence passions as well — voted to remain in the European Union. All of the Irish desire to remain in the union, and the British ignore that desire at their peril.
Brian O’Dwyer
New York
The writer, a Manhattan lawyer, is the grand marshal of the 2019 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York.
Source: Read Full Article