Source: NBC News
LONDON — At its heart, Brexit is about untangling more than 40 years of shared laws and policy. That’s a tall order for any government, especially given the tight two-year time frame written into the process.
But an issue that was hardly mentioned during the Brexit referendum campaign in 2016 has proved trickier to solve than any other: how to handle the border between the Irish Republic, which is in the European Union, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
Today, the 310-mile boundary is largely invisible and runs through schools, farmlands, homes and even a church graveyard. It is also the only land border that the U.K. shares with an E.U. country.
And because both the U.K. and the Irish Republic are members of the E.U., goods and people currently flow freely between the two countries without checkpoints or passports being inspected. But what happens when Britain departs from the 28-country bloc on March 29 remains a conundrum.
Prime Minister Theresa May and the E.U. believe the answer is what is known as the Irish backstop. Here’s your guide to the proposed measure, which is hated by many Brexit supporters.
Why is the border such a sensitive issue?
For 30 years, starting in the late 1960s, the border was a front line in a conflict known as “The Troubles” that killed 3,600 people.
The dispute pitted republicans, primarily Catholics seeking a united Ireland, against British security forces tasked with maintaining U.K. rule over Northern Ireland.
The republicans also fought against local loyalists, primarily Protestants wanting Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom.
A delicate peace pact was negotiated in 1998, known as the Good Friday Agreement. President Bill Clinton helped broker that accord, which allowed the people of Northern Ireland the right to identify and be accepted as British or Irish, or both, within the E.U.
It also resulted in the removal of British military checkpoints and watchtowers. These had been regularly targeted by republicans as symbols of British dominance.
Some fear Britain’s plan to leave the E.U. could result in such checkpoints being reintroduced,…
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