John Bruton: Impact of failure on Article 16 will hit rural Ireland hard, and immediately 

If London is not negotiating about Article 16 in good faith, that is bad news for Ireland and for European politics, as former taoiseach John Bruton said in a recent speech

Former taoiseach John Bruton. File picture

One of the puzzles in the stand-off over the Northern Ireland protocol is that of discerning what the UK really wants.

The stakes are high, and the effects of failure immediate.