The future status of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland is one of the stickier questions that must be answered by Brexit negotiators.
While the United Kingdom is at the center of the Brexit, its neighbor, Ireland, has almost as much at stake in the negotiations over its departure from the European Union. The Emerald Isle, an EU member, is watching its largest trading partner end the arrangements that allow goods, people, capital and services to move freely over their shared border. Economic concerns are not the only issues at stake: Ireland worries that the split could increase the potential for violent unrest in Northern Ireland, the portion of the island that is part of the United Kingdom. And as Anglo-Saxon influence in the European Union decreases with the United Kingdom's departure, the bloc could move in directions detrimental to Ireland's economic model.
