Dr. Duncan Morrow:

That is another thing, to which court would it be taken? Nevertheless we know legal issues are certainly engaged. How that happens will depend on the type of Brexit.

Ireland is now upfront; the European Union has said it is upfront. After the election we will need to see what negotiating position the United Kingdom takes and what its approach to this will be. If it accepts that Ireland is upfront, much of this may become possible to deal with it. If the United Kingdom rejects that, then paradoxically the Northern Ireland issue will move up the agenda rather than go down the agenda, but it will do so on an emotional basis and it will become more complicated. It may be that cool heads will prevail and we will start to move on trying to get some detail on this.

However, if we get the alternative scenario where two years into the process there is no budget deal and we are facing the crash-out doomsday scenario, then Northern Ireland really is in the middle of quite a difficult situation because it is about imposing hard borders where there is no agreement. It is about a series of divisions inside Northern Ireland which are reopening. Those are significant for all of us because we know what that can mean. I am not here wishing it, threatening it or even suggesting it is inevitable. However, I am saying that we know it is possible and we need to do everything we can to ensure we are going in the still direction that we have.