The Irish Sea border is an informal term for the trade border between

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. It was specified by the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol of the

Brexit withdrawal agreement The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...

(February 2020), was refined by the Joint Committee in December 2020, and came into effect on 1 January 2021 following the end of the Brexit transition period. As a result of the Agreement, Northern Ireland remains aligned to the

European Single Market The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, ...

in a limited way for goods, whilst remaining part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

customs territory and the UK internal market. Its effect is that the need for customs checks on the

Irish border Irish commonly refers to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the island and the sovereign state ***Erse (disambiguatio ...

has been avoided, and a hard border has not been re-established. This Irish Sea border was the option taken by Prime Minister Johnson in October 2019 to break the impasse of the "Brexit Trilemma" (of three competing objectives: no hard border on the island; no Irish Sea border; and no British participation in the

and the European Union Customs Union: it is not possible to have all three.) Under the terms of Article 18 of the protocol, the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

has the power (after 31 December 2024) to decide whether to terminate or continue the protocol arrangements. "The Withdrawal Agreement doesn’t state how Northern Ireland should give consent o continue– it is for the UK to determine how that decision is made" but the UK Government has already declared that the decision will be made by a simple majority of Assembly members. In the event that consent is not given, the arrangements would cease to apply two years thereafter. The Joint Committee would make alternative proposals to the UK and EU to avoid a hard border on the island of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. If consent is given, then the question may be put again after a further four years. At the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, parties favouring continuance of the protocol won 53 of the 90 seats.

Implications

Articles 4 and 5 of the Northern Ireland Protocol specify how goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain are to be handled. ( Article 6 affirms that goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain have "unfettered access".) The detailed workings of Articles 4 and 5 were amended in early 2023 when the UK and EU agreed the Windsor Framework and put into effect from 1 October 2023. The Framework allows for goods supplied by trusted traders and clearly marked "not for EU" to be transferred with minimal controls. The same dispensation applies to parcels, even quite large ones. When crossing from

into Northern Ireland, people carrying more than €10,000 (or equivalent) in cash are required to follow the same laws as when travelling from Great Britain to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. (An initial plan to require pet passports has been suspended indefinitely while negotiations continue.)

Controversies

While conducting Brexit negotiations during her term as British Prime Minister, Theresa May stated "no UK prime minister could ever agree" to an Irish Sea border. Similarly, in August 2020,

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

said that "There will be no border down the Irish Sea – over my dead body". The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) supported Brexit, but "opposed the protocol and voted against it in the House of Commons." Some Unionists, according to ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', believed that: "the Brexit deal has cut NI adrift from the rest of the UK, pushing Belfast further away from London, paving the way for an economic united Ireland", and loyalists called for the arrangement to be removed or, furthermore, for the collapse of the devolved administration. The governing DUP, however, said that "It would be a foolish idea to collapse devolution. It would remove the party who opposed the NI Protocol and give all power for Northern Ireland back to the UK government, who created and implemented the NI Protocol." Speaking before Westminster voted to ratify the Trade Agreement, Lord Empey (chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party) argued that the Protocol came about because the DUP had indicated acceptance of it. He said that he had "pointed out that, immediately this document was released, Arlene Foster and her DUP colleagues endorsed these proposals, describing them as 'a serious and sensible way forward'". In January 2021, graffiti reading "all border control post staff are targets" was painted onto a wall near Larne port. On 1 February, DAERA instructed Border Control Post staff in Larne and Belfast to "temporarily suspend" physical controls on Products of Animal Origin, pending talks with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), due to threats to the safety of staff. "Full documentary checks" continued as usual.

2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election

At the election to the

in May 2022, parties opposed to the very principle of a distinct arrangement for Northern Ireland (the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and two Independent Unionists) secured just 28 of the 90 seats. The position of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which secured nine seats, is more measured: although opposed to the protocol as it stands, the party would accept it given significant changes. Even with the UUP opposed, this suggests a 5337 vote in favour of continuance.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Borders of the United Kingdom 2021 establishments in Northern Ireland 2021 in international relations Internal borders of the United Kingdom

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...