Brexit summit: EU accepts united Ireland declaration.
"The leaders took just one minute to approve the guidelines before breaking into applause and German chancellor Angela Merkel said she had never seen such unity of purpose at a European Council meeting."

This is really about safeguarding the Good Friday Agreement from any UK government interference regarding possible Brexit negotiation tactics, but the wording is absolutely all about a metaphorical thumbing of the nose to the current tory government.

Mark

Well done loyalists and unionists! You just made SF/IRA's job that little bit easier in the future. And you did it by voting for something they didn't even want!

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/798225 ... -EU-border

just a thought and no i am not getting into a debate about Irish borders ...

If there's a bit of Ireland that's not in the EU and a bit of Ireland that is in the EU, then there's going to be a border. That's simple sense. And that's what there's going to be, because there's no way the RoI is going to end up as part of the UK, and there's no way NI is going to end up as part of a 'united Ireland' any time in any our lifetimes, if ever.

The declaration is irrelevant to this. It's the worst sort of posturing and it won't change things one jot. There will be a border and a soft border is no use at all, so it'll have to be a 'proper' border of some sort.

Thing is, short of some serious EU money, nobody will ever pay for it. In the worst days of the Troubles the border was as made up as any line drawn on a map. There were next to no dedicated patrols by either side and very little in the way of checkpoints or fortification. In fact you were much more likely to get stopped by a Provo for PR purposes.

The three interested parties (UK, RoI and EU) are simply using the Good Friday Agreement as cover for something they never intended to do anyway, and in fact never really did do. It would be a total farce if they did. And possibly a lethal one once the dissidents had something to play off.