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Northern Ireland suspends Brexit checks amid safety fears for port staff There's unstated background in that article, I'm not complaining about that, I'm sure
by PhantomGremlin 6y ago
Northern Ireland suspends Brexit checks amid safety fears for port staff
There's unstated background in that article, I'm not complaining about that, I'm sure it's common knowledge to people in the UK.
But I'm not really clear on who is mad at or threatening whom. Let's take the very beginning of the article:
Brexit checks on animal and food products arriving into Belfast and Larne ports have been suspended amid fears over the safety of staff
Are we talking about goods from Northern Ireland (not part of EU?) arriving at a port prior to being shipped to EU? Or are they arriving from EU into a port in Northern Ireland?
Who is doing the threatening? Why?
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoNobody's really threatening anyone yet but the UK and Ireland doing what they can to allow the open border status quo to continue between NI and Ireland because to do otherwise would be to conspicuously wipe their ass with the good Friday agreement and few on either side really wants that. They're not worried about a shootout. They're worried some irate person gets in fisticuffs with a customs worker in a manner that creates a viral video that creates political problems.
- hardlianotion 6y agoThey say they are worried out customs workers being targeted by ultra loyalist groups. There are claims of shadowing activity and threats made to workers.
- me_me_me 6y agoMoral or not, a few carbooms under british politicians' cars would certainly motivate them to actually solve the mess that they created.
- ben_w 6y agoI doubt that. The Brighton Hotel bombing that targeted PM Thatcher and killed an MP didn’t seem to result in very much for the IRA, and the Good Friday agreement was 13.5 years and a change of governing party later. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing
- hardlianotion 6y agoEdit - pointless comment removed.
- drcongo 6y agoYou're right. It would be much more helpful if it suggested some targets.
- me_me_me 6y agoIll just reply since I cannot edit. I am in no way inciting to violence or murder or car bombing. It was a sarcastic, facetious comment about possible way to put pressure on morons that reignited the coals of the past. Organising a peaceful protest or mass petitioning is a way better approach to keep the ghost of old IRA in the past.
- netsharc 6y agoIt's all written there... the article mentions "loyalist communities", had to look it up, but DDG summarizes Wikipedia: > Ulster loyalism is the political movement for maintaining Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. But for some more background info: Northern Ireland is now within the customs zone of EU, and the "EU border" is between the Irish and British islands; otherwise the border would have to be between Ireland (EU) and Northern Ireland (not EU); this has been a cause of conflict in the past, and the UK also signed an agreement in the past that there would be no such border. So adding a border between NI and Great Britain is pissing off the people who see it as creating a big separation between the 2 parts of the country known as the UK.
- PhantomGremlin 6y agoSo adding a border between NI and Great Britain is pissing off the people who see it as creating a big separation between the 2 parts of the country known as the UK. Okay, that helped. The goods in question were shipped from the island of Great Britain to ports in Northern Ireland. But what also confused me was from the article itself, which said "Mid and East Antrim borough council agreed on Monday night to remove 12 of its staff". The word borough implies to me some sort of local government, like a city. So why is a borough council responsible for border checks? In the USA if something arrives into, e.g. the Port of New York and New Jersey, it is the US Federal government that is responsible for checks, not some local government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_New_Jersey#Jurisdiction_and_regulation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_New_Jersey#Jurisdictio... The port is a port of entry. The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regulate international imports and passenger arrivals.
- Symbiote 6y agoA borough council is an urban or suburban local government district. They usually have responsibility for enforcing the standards of goods sold in local shops (not toxic, scale calibrated correctly etc) so I'm not surprised if they have something to do with the process. Also, the good are moving internally. Do federal staff inspect American ships coming into Hawaii or American Samoa?