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The area around the small Irish town of Carrickcarnan is the kind of place where the British project of leaving the European Union comes up against a wall, an invisible wall that it turns out extremely well. difficult to overcome.
In one way or another, it will be necessary to draw a border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland, a member of the EU to allow customs control of goods, products and livestock once the United Kingdom has completely left the bloc.
This means that the Irish land border, largely invisible and invisible, will become the border between the European Union and the United Kingdom – raising thorny questions about trade and customs controls.
Of all the thorny issues in the Brexit negotiations, it is the most difficult because the difficulty of maintaining the smooth functioning of trade is intimately linked to questions of identity: what it means to be from Northern Ireland.
The Catholic and Protestant communities of Northern Ireland remain divided decades after 30 years of conflict claimed the lives of about 3,700 people. The peace agreement signed in 1998 offers people the freedom to identify themselves as Irish or British, or both. It has helped dismantle the border between Northern Ireland, heavily policed and militarized – and the last thing people want now is a new one.
"The peace process has removed identity and boundaries to politics, and Brexit has put them back in the middle," said Conor Houston, business and strategy advisor for Northern Ireland.
The talks between EU leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May have run aground this week on the Irish border issue and are trying to find solutions for a summit that starts Wednesday.
The border between Northern Ireland and Ireland zigzags all over the map. He cuts around the properties, turns on the roads and avoids the villages. People go through when they leave the house to see their doctor or do their shopping. It is usually visible only when speed signs change from kilometer to kilometer.
The dividing line extends over 500 kilometers and has more than 250 official road passages, more than all of Europe's eastern flank.
The parish church of Jonesborough is a good example of Brexit's enigma. A lock closes the door of this dilapidated Protestant place of worship in the United Kingdom. An Irish flag floats in the nearby cemetery, across the border. In the car park, an altered sign indicates: "No European border in Ireland".
It was not so long ago, 12 fortified watchtowers, 4 helicopter bases, a handful of barracks and army police stations crisscrossed the countryside within a 16 km radius.
Border crossings represented authority and were easy targets for paramilitaries. So the police came to guard the customs officers. Then the army was called to protect the police.
Some think that modern technology – drones and cameras – can defeat old enmities. Others suspect that they would be used for the practice of the target.
"For some, this will be seen as a surveillance and a step back for the troubles, and then you will have to decide how to protect these drones and cameras," said Peter Sheridan, retired senior police officer with 32 years of age. 39, experience in dealing with organized crime.
Still, Sheridan says politicians should not give in to threats.
"We can not be pushed to make decisions by those who use the biggest stick," he said.
About 65 kilometers north, in the capital of Northern Ireland, Belfast, the barriers are much more visible. In many places, neighborhoods are still separated by high "walls of peace" painted with graffiti. The schools are mostly separated.
The UK's poverty, suicide and unemployment rates are the highest in the UK – and there is concern that Brexit is making the situation worse.
"The tensions simply can not be underestimated and are absolutely ubiquitous" in parts of Belfast, said Angila Chada of Springboard, a group working with unemployed Protestant and Catholic youth.
These are not all bad news. Trade – mainly in the sectors of agriculture and food – has doubled over the last 20 years and the economy of Northern Ireland has gradually improved . Nevertheless, even in the best Brexit scenario, Aodhan Connolly of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium notes that there will be "a significant new administrative burden".
More controls on goods crossing the border will mean more paperwork. This means delays, and delays create costs.
"There is very little room for maneuver for business – these costs are going to be passed on to the consumer," Connolly told the press during a tour organized in Northern Ireland by the Irish government. "It's literally death by a thousand cuts." Food prices will go up, fuel will go up, shirt on the back. "
Creating a "hard border" – something that all parties want to avoid – would worsen the situation.
On average, commercial vehicles cross the border 13,000 times a day. In the future, it may be necessary to stop approximately 3,000 shipments of beef, lamb, pork, poultry, eggs or dairy products a day. Each check takes about 10 minutes, said Seamus Leheny of the Freight Transport Association.
"We would have paralysis here at the border," he said.
It remains to be seen whether customs and other controls could be carried out outside the border – in airports, ports, factories or markets.
In the coming weeks, EU officials and the UK and Irish governments must come up with a policy guaranteeing that goods can be controlled without hindering the economy. First and foremost, the Irish border plan for Brexit must respect the unique identity of the people of Northern Ireland and not exacerbate tensions, as many fear.
