Can someone explain the Irish backstop to me in very simple words?

[Apolloanddaphne]

I am an intelligent woman with multiple degrees but i have to confess i have no idea what the back stop is. I am too scared to ask my DH or my friends lest they think i am an imbecile (lighthearted). I have tried googling it to read articles about it but i just don't get it.

One of my friends is Irish and has a piece in a newspaper today related this today. If it comes up in conversation next time i see him i would at least like to be able to say something semi intelligent about it!

Help me please. Use easy words. Thanks.

Although, if you had a mother who hammered seven shades of shite outta you, we might claim you as one of ours............

Jewel, read the more recent articles by the Times/Independent etc. Varadkar himself has said it would be defeated (about 2 weeks ago).

Yes we're sympathetic to those in NI who wish to identify as Irish - it's a nice idea. But they're not Irish.

Absolute bollocks.

Ireland has been largely unaffected by the Troubles.

"The troubles" is a British phrase used to highlight 30 years out of the last 800 in which ordinary British people became caught up in colonalism through IRA bombing. Ireland has always been at the brunt of British occupation as it is now - the UK government seeks to isolate/blame Ireland for the backstop.

*Yes we're sympathetic to those in NI who wish to identify as Irish - it's a nice idea. But they're not Irish.

Absolute bollocks.*

Well they're not Irish though.

When will some of you realise that NI belongs to the QUEEN. Lol. It's like talking to a brick wall. They're just 'different' to us.

As I said opinion polls are pretty shite so i probably should not put too much faith in them. I think also people from northern Ireland are Irish both legally and culturally.

They are legally entitled to claim Irish citizenship

What they legally are and what they are are two different things.

Body - are you near the border? Do you have many friends or family in northern Ireland?

That should ready Bowsy

If you hold an Irish passport you are an Irish citizen.

How long have you lived in London?

A passport doesn't make you Irish in thinking, in culture, in your upbringing, in your history, in your shared experiences. It just doesn't.

It's been 82 years..........

Nothing like a bit of prejudice then Bowsy!

I've lived in parts of the country (UK) that I didn't like and thought the people a bit strange, but I wouldn't bother to comment on a thread about them. Ultimately, it was just my opinion, and others felt differently.

I would suspect that if the NI people are suspicious, it could very much be due to their experiences during the Troubles, and before.

A passport doesn't make you Irish in thinking, in culture, in your upbringing, in your history, in your shared experiences. It just doesn't.

Irish people don't all think the same, act the same or have the same outlook. They don't all have the same shared experiences. Ireland has changed dramatically over the last 30 years particularly with more migrants settling in the country.

The reason Brexit is failing is partly because of the false assumption that all British people share the same view on what the UK should be and its place in the world. They don't.

A United Ireland is as far away as ever it was. But give it another generation and we shall see is my view. Despite what many on the so called "mainland" think, the ROI is not really in favour of a UI right this minute. So that doesn't solve any issue does it?

No one is prepared to take it on right now. UK has propped it
up with billions. And they still don't care apart from the support from the DUP.

The GFA solved huge issues for UK and ROI and NI. Long may it continue. And it has up to now thankfully.

ROI cannot ever replicate that monetary investment now without bankrupting itself. Nor would they want any repeat of the Troubles either. I doubt Loyalists would want to be part of ROI either, similar to Nationalists not wanting to be part of UK. BUT GFA sorted all that out since 1998. Can you believe that?

Peace came dropping slow. But it worked.

I hope it will never be decimated.

Most people in the South couldn't give a monkeys. All are happy with their lot at the moment, and are not too keen on taking on NI right now.

So Boris, what do you think now? Solve it please.

I'd vote for a United Ireland. But then I tend to vote on the basis of what I think is morally right rather than how I'll be financially affected. And no, I'm not keen on the likes of the DUP being part of my country instead of safely across an invisible border in part of the UK, but we have plenty of mad people here anyway so they'll fit right in. (I'm looking at you Danny Healy-Rae.)

Fucks sake they're only Unionist because Westminster had a divide and conquer policy in the 1800s. Anyone from NI is thought of as Irish in the rUK. Ken Clarke (I am fairly certain it was) called Lady Hermon an Irish representative/politician in one of the HoC debates I was watching and she interrupted to say she is British. I think he went on an explanation about how he calls people from Scotland Scottish and so on and he didn't mean she wasn't British...

Anyway Bowsy you're completely wrong to say people from NI aren't Irish. You have a point about culture but I have nothing in common with plenty of 'Irish culture' say for example the GAA culture here. Doesn't make me less Irish.

ROI cannot ever replicate that monetary investment now without bankrupting itself.

I'd imagine that Ireland would manage with a bit of help from both our European and American friends. Anyway we were bankrupt or something a few short years ago and the world didn't end.

That being said I would think that the whole thing would be a long drawn out process and there would be continued UK contribution etc etc. In normal times at least, that's what I would've expected. These times are different, and the UK could just disintegrate with no long process or agreements.

Yes we're sympathetic to those in NI who wish to identify as Irish - it's a nice idea. But they're not Irish.

Howdy, I don't think you have the slightest clue how offensive you're being. I hope you don't anyway.

I'm sympathetic to your views about the differences between ROI and NI (from Dublin but have lived in NI for more than a decade now, very happily). And I don't think I could vote for reunification - I've no cultural yearn for it, and I'd hate to see ROI take an economic hit again.

But people in NI are absolutely allowed to identify as Irish, and their Irish citizenship makes them just as Irish as you or I. They are the descendents of people who were decided to be British by the stroke of a pen, with no regard for their views or culture.

The gfa helped us all, and made this clear. Your statements are almost as repugnant as the government's disregard for it.

*Bowsy. FFS.

But people in NI are absolutely allowed to identify as Irish, and their Irish citizenship makes them just as Irish as you or I. They are the descendents of people who were decided to be British by the stroke of a pen, with no regard for their views or culture.

But Mindy would you not vote for unification on that basis? Is it not wrong to say 'we don't mind you having a passport but we don't want you to have a vote'? 'We don't mind you having a passport but we don't want to pay for your education.'? 'We don't mind you having a passport but we don't want our taxes being spent on you.'?

I think ROI might be a bit wary of the Loyalist reaction to a UI. I am talking about the ultras here. Most NI just want to get on with their lives.

It is OK for ROI, their supporters are never going to be opposed to joining the ROI.

Totally different story for the Loyalist Fleg supporters though. That is the problem. Could kick off in an instant.

How do you propose to solve that?

GFA is keeping things great in NI.

But any chink in the armour of GFA might not be very pleasant anymore.

So which country do you think might be blighting the GFA now?

Despicable to even think of awakening the slumber of some. For what?