Will Brexit reopen old wounds with a new hard border in Northern Ireland?
Our writer, who grew up in County Armagh, travels the the Irish borderland and talks to those who live there
The motorway from Dublin to Belfast crosses the Irish border just south of the town of Newry. The only clue that you have moved from one country and jurisdiction to another is provided by the speed limit signs, which change from kilometres to miles per hour. Since this stretch of the motorway was opened in July 2010, the journey from one capital to the other takes, on a good day, just 90 minutes.
A few hundred yards away from the motorway, and running almost parallel to it, is the old Dublin to Belfast road, which, throughout the Troubles, was the main conduit for traffic between Ireland and Northern Ireland. On a bad day then, it could take up to 90 minutes just to negotiate the heavily fortified British army checkpoint that stood on the outskirts of Newry, on this road.
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