The Carlingford Ferry service between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been hit by Brexit uncertainty. Damien McElroy
The Carlingford Ferry service between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been hit by Brexit uncertainty. Damien McElroy
The Carlingford Ferry service between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been hit by Brexit uncertainty. Damien McElroy
The Carlingford Ferry service between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been hit by Brexit uncertainty. Damien McElroy

Irish border fears dog Theresa May's Brexit deal


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On the only year-round ferry service that travels between northern and southern Ireland, there is no thought given to the process of crossing an international border.

The invisible line has been the sticking point in Britain’s Brexit negotiations with the EU. While the two sides sealed a draft deal last week, the announcement brought Theresa May, the British prime minister, to the brink. Cabinet ministers quit and were replaced as Downing Street went on a war footing for a Conservative party leadership challenge.

On the ferry, the fight against corrosion was taking up crew member George Rooney’s time and energy. Deploying a chemical spray allowed him to attack rust spots and watch as the damage just melted away. There is no such solution to the all-consuming topic of Brexit. “Everybody is talking about it,” said Mr Rooney. “It’s like going back in time. Nobody wants chaos but what can you do? You just have to hope for the best.”

The staff were tasked with getting the ferry ready for a busy day on Saturday when 300 amateur cyclists were expected to make the 15-minute journey around a sandbank on Carlingford Lough that was once patrolled by British and Irish gunboats seeking to enforce territorial waters.

The vulnerability of the ferry operation to changes in economic conditions is obvious. An incoming boat on the half-hour round trip carried one vehicle and the return journey also ran with just a single passenger. It is only the second winter the service has run, another small milestone in the increasing integration of the border economy since the Good Friday Agreement ended terrorism in Ireland two decades ago.

"It's great drama to watch but its all about the Tories and what their games are," said John Mulligan, the editor of the Dundalk Argus newspaper, which serves the nearest town south of the border. "People here can't influence the outcome but they know it matters to them."

Around the shores, the impact of Brexit casts doubts over how much of everyday life can be preserved in the coming months. Kevin Kennealy, who works in the Northern Irish fishing port of Kilkeel, makes the five-hour journey there from his home in Galway twice a week. He has already felt the consequences of the Brexit vote. “No one can tell us what’s going to happen but we can see Brexit is already having an effect, the cost of living has gone up and uncertainty has risen. If we are shut out of the market for the product we land it’s not going to be easy to cope with.”

But on the quays the angry defiance that saw the British fishing industry back a leave vote in 2016 remains at fever pitch. To most, the dominance of European boats in UK waters is something that Brexit must reverse.

“When I, like a lot of the fishermen here, decided to vote leave it was because of the impact its policies had on our industry. We saw what the EU was turning into in the fishing industry and could only imagine what it would do to other walks of life,” said Alan McCulla, who runs a co-operative in the town.

Flags hanging from the boats, proclaim “No Fisheries Sell Out”. David Roper, who is from Scotland but also works locally, is convinced that Britain can take a firm stance. He believes Europeans would not cut off the UK-based industry in a no-deal scenario.

“They can’t,” he said. “Europe has very high demand for fish and British waters provides that catch. They need us.”

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Mrs May stabilised her leadership on Friday after rebel efforts to organise a vote of no-confidence among Conservative party members failed to secure the required numbers.

The prime minister replaced the two cabinet ministers who had resigned in the aftermath of a five-hour meeting that endorsed the agreement with Brussels.

Yet the hardline leavers remain unhappy with the accord and five senior Conservatives — Michael Gove, Liam Fox, Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt and Chris Grayling — are meeting this weekend to plot changes to the deal.

Even so, they are lobbying from within. Mr Fox used a speech on Friday to warn the agreement was broadly as good as it gets. ”I hope across parliament we recognise that a deal is better than no deal, and businesses require certainty — it's in our national interest to provide certainty as soon as possible,” he said.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, joined other European leaders in telling the British that the 585-page Withdrawal Agreement could not be unpicked in a further round of talks. "If you start trying to amend it or unthink it, you might find that the whole thing unravels,” he said, adding that the disruption would sweep the Irish border if there was no deal. "We can avoid a hard border by signing up for the agreement that has been negotiated. I think in a no-deal scenario it would be very hard to avoid a hard border."

Northern Ireland’s staunchly British Democratic Unionist Party played a key role at Westminster last week, rejecting the deal and putting its support for Mrs May’s minority government on the line. But its stance has come under fire.

Political commentator Alex Kane told BBC radio that DUP fury was not shared by many among its own unionist community. At past moments of crisis, such as the 1985 Anglo-Irish agreement, there was a unionist monolith of outrage but that was not the case facing the threat of a reimposition of the border.

The influential Ulster Farmers Union took the rare step of challenging the DUPs position and backing Mrs May’s proposal. “We want to make sure we avoid a no-deal situation,” its leader Wesley Aston said. “We would support the deal going through and against that background we would ask the DUP to consider voting for this deal.”

The inclusion of a so-called backstop for Northern Ireland if London and Brussels cannot agree on a long-term trade deal is seen by the DUP as threat to the province's place inside the UK. "There are serious constitutional and economic implications of this deal for Northern Ireland," said Sir Jeffery Donaldson, a leading DUP MP.

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Quick pearls of wisdom

Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”

Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.” 

'Of Love & War'
Lynsey Addario, Penguin Press

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

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RESULT

Aston Villa 1
Samatta (41')
Manchester City 2
Aguero (20')
Rodri (30')

GROUPS

Group Gustavo Kuerten
Novak Djokovic (x1)
Alexander Zverev (x3)
Marin Cilic (x5)
John Isner (x8)

Group Lleyton Hewitt
Roger Federer (x2)
Kevin Anderson (x4)
Dominic Thiem (x6)
Kei Nishikori (x7)

Cultural fiesta

What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421,  Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day. 

Leading all-time NBA scorers

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419