The Irish protocol.

Interesting...any time given?

You realise Francie the irony of you accusing the North of being a 'religious bigoted sectarian statelet'. You could say exactly the same about the Free State and subsequent Republic of Ireland - for those outside the Roman Catholic nationalist tradition, this state became a 'religious bigoted sectarian statelet' and in some ways remains so. Fanatical Unionism is precisely mirrored in Fanatical Nationalism and God knows, we have a lot of it knocking about.

Why in the name of sanity would anyone seriously contemplate Ireland leaving the EU to rejoin the UK?

Proposing this as a solution is akin to telling the abused partner they just need to love their abuser a little bit more and things will be OK. At least you'll be locked safely away at night!

Absolute nonsense.

If the UK wants to Brexit it's up to the UK to come up with the solutions that are in keeping with their obligations recent and past.

It is most certainly not for everyone else to dance to the UK's tune to give it what it wants to it's 100% complete satisfaction.

Put it this way - the present situation on the island of Ireland is not of the making of either Ireland or the EU!

So I repeat, what's your solution then????????????

Most of that is right yes but I don't think Protestant clergy are/were tools and certainly not all protestants were bad at any time. There has been a 'we are the masters' thing going on

And by patriot you mean do what the UK Government do? To the detriment of our country? You need a dictionary amigo.

You don't seem to realise that WE are the losers in this fracture between the EU and the UK. If we could just pick up our wee island and drop it in the North Sea or Mediterranean, we'd be grand. The reality is that our geography has and always will have a major influence on how these matters affect us. It's no good throwing your hands in the air and saying it's all the Brits fault and it's up to them to fix it. Because we're the ones who are going to be f**ked.

How?

If the UK does not align to EU standards, checks are required. That's why checks exist in the Irish Sea.

At the moment the delineation for those checks exist in the Irish Sea. If UK decides to align to EU standards, the need for these checks instantly disappear.

If, lets say, the NIP is scrapped, that checks in the Irish Sea is no longer applied by the UK, but let's say that the UK continues to refuse to align to EU standards.

Once checks aren't being done in the UK anymore, then there is no reason for the EU to allow NI retain the exclusive access to the Single Market for goods that it currently does.

The DUP et al will get exactly what they desire, to be aligned with the rest of the UK and be at one again with the party of "F**k Business". And good luck explaining that to industry who quite clearly recognise that overall the NIP gives them a distinct advantage over the rest of the UK.

So, again, unless the UK are going to align to EU standards, what compromises do you expect to happen and on whose side?

Bearing in mind, once again, that the UK have voluntarily, willingly - even triumphantly - signed itself up to everything that exists today in the NIP.

Brexit impacts us negatively no matter what. But it has happened and we aren't going to get a say in what the UK say or do going forward.

We simply have to accept it is what it is and try and fight our corner, thankfully, with the backing of the rest of the EU.

To simply throw our hands up in the air and go, right, well, we'll just rejoin the UK and everything will be OK somehow? How exactly?

You think the UK government are going to reward us for our loyalty, give us a pat on the back and go "Well done lads, thanks"?

You think the rEU are going to wish us well with a tear rolling down their cheek and a "don't be a stranger" farewell?

Not a chance.

Your suggestion of Ireland rejoining the UK as making the best of a bad situation is about as useful as suggesting everyone leave their windows, doors and cupboards wide open with the lights on 24/7 so that when someone decides to burgle you at least they don't smash your house up while doing so.

I get where you're coming from Francie and it's a reasonable position. The one thing I query is whether we can actually live with a rapidly fracturing relationship between the UK and the EU. I'm not sure we can actually live with that because it will have enormous impacts on the both the daily lives of people on this island and our business interests. What price are we prepared to pay? A trade war might effect some of the EU states to a limited extent but it would really screw us.

The point is that we would be many times worse off outside the EU, with the current failing state of the UK as our neighbour, than we would be inside the EU with a failing UK state as our neighbour.

If there is damage to Ireland, it will be inflicted by the UK and we will deal with it. We will absolutely not be walked over or be pushed out of the EU, it simply makes no sense.