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"Other Investing?" Or Politics? Money is involved. EU/N.I. "Protocol."

edited October 2022 in Other Investing
"...The powersharing institutions at Stormont (Site of local N.I. Assembly) have been dormant for months due to a DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) protest against the terms of the protocol, which created trade barriers on goods being shipped from Britain to Northern Ireland...."
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I ask: WHY? How did THAT happen? ... UNLESS goods are shipped first to Irish (EU) ports and then trans-shipped across the already very porous border between The Republic and Northern Ireland. That's a known issue.

Solution: assuming we are talking about marine transport: simply sail from England or Scotland or Wales DIRECTLY to Belfast or Londonderry. Duh. Geniuses in charge.

British goods which land in the Republic before reaching a destination up North? Well..... The Brits should have thought about that prospect before Brexit got underway. The Republic and Northern Ireland both have agreements in place between themselves, and those must not be rescinded. The Good Friday Accords are to be honored. Period. There's too much history to remember, too much blood shed. That Peace Accord came at a high price.

So...... The Republic is in the EU. Northern Ireland is not---- even though a majority up there voted to REMAIN. (As did Scotland and Gibraltar, too---and Gibraltar by an overwhelming number.)

How to get goods into N.I. from the Republic overland while honoring the exclusivity of the EU single Market but also observing existing agreements between the two entities??? And if there are "barriers" now, since Brexit, on goods being shipped from Britain to Northern Ireland, does that mean that for the purposes of commerce, the entire island of Ireland is being treated as a single whole? A sticky wicket. After all, the passports all say: "Great Britain AND Northern Ireland." You can't have one part without the other.
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2022/10/04/truss-restore-north-assembly-and-executive-now/
NO EU markings anymore.
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On the other hand:
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Comments

  • Bumped As I understand the issue, goods shipped from Britain to Northern Ireland face customs inspections because GB is out of Brexit while the island of Ireland is treated as within Brexit to comply with 1998 Good Friday Accord. Inspections take place at Belfast rather than at NI border with Republic of Ireland. DUP objects to this arrangement, causing the Stormont standoff !
  • @carew388. Oh, ok. But I think you mean "EU" rather than "Brexit," as you just used it. I cannot conceive of why something sent directly from Britain to Northern Ireland would need ANY kind of inspection. It's all the United Kingdom, eh? But you say there ARE inspections, but not at the border. The inspections take place in Belfast. But Belfast is indeed a port. So then, goods landing at Derry instead, for example, must be moved to Belfast and inspected before being put to use?

    It's STILL beyond my pay grade..... So it is the European Union (together with Britain through the Brexit agreement) which is treating the entire island as EU land? Or maybe that's the way things are practically carried out, even without presuming to make declarations about political geography?

    Ork! So crazily convoluted.

  • Oops! Yes-island of Ireland is treated as within EU. EU requires goods from Britain to be inspected, and to preserve the Irish open border, the goods are inspected when they reach a Northern Ireland port-to be honest I think any Northern Ireland port,not just Belfast. So goods would be inspected at Derry also. So your second paragraph is correct, and DUP resents these trade barriers. Boris Johnson acted like this would be no big deal-but of course he's gone now !
  • Liz Truss, Boris Johnson's replacement, is off to a great start, proving to be unexpectedly agile and masterful in all things financial. I'm certain that she will be able to sort all of this out to everyone's total satisfaction in short order.
  • You're quite the comedian, Old_Joe! :-)
  • Hard to keep a straight face, sometimes. :)
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