An all-island response is essential - Coping with Brexit

THERE has not been a single moment since May 1921 — when this island was partitioned — in which the interests of everyone living in Ireland, north or south, were more closely aligned than now. 

The implications of the Brexit vote are so profound for everyone living on both sides of the border that the Stormont and Leinster House administrations must work together to achieve the best possible outcome for the whole island. This objective is made an imperative by the fact that Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union despite the Leave campaign led by First Minister Arlene Foster’s Democratic Unionist Party.

That awkwardness, however, is dwarfed by the barely concealed contempt for even the idea of Northern Ireland and the complexities that flow from its history by two of the candidates hoping to become Tory leader. Had the confront-and-crush policies advocated by Michael Gove been implemented, it is doubtful the peace that has prevailed on this island since the 1998 Belfast Agreement would have been achieved. Gove is at least consistent in his contempt for the lessons of history — he also ignores the reality that the EU has presided over what is, by European standards at least, a prolonged peace.