Republic Of Ireland–United Kingdom Border
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, sometimes referred to as the Irish border or British–Irish border, runs for Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, 1999MFPP Working Paper No. 2, "The Creation and Consolidation of the Irish Border"
(PDF) by KJ Rankin and published in association with Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin and Institute for Governance, Queen's University, Belfast (also printed as IBIS working paper no. 48)
from
Lough Foyle Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over t ...
in the north-west of
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
to
Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, the border between Northern Ireland to the nor ...
in the north-east, separating the
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
from
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. Border markings are inconspicuous, in common with many inter-state borders in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
. As the two states share a
Common Travel Area The Common Travel Area (CTA; , ) is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Governed by non-binding agreements ...
and () Northern Ireland (the only exception within the UK and only in some respects) and the Republic of Ireland are participants in the
European Single Market The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, ...
, the border is essentially an open one, allowing free passage of people since 1923 and of goods since 1993. There are circa 270 public roads that cross the border. Following the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, this border is also the frontier between the EU and a non-member country. The Brexit withdrawal agreement commits all involved parties to maintaining an open border in Ireland, so that (in many respects) the ''de facto'' frontier is the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
between the two islands.


Establishment

Originally intended as an internal boundary within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...
, the border was created in 1921 under the
United Kingdom Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...
's
Government of Ireland Act 1920 The Government of Ireland Act 1920 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 67) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bi ...
. Prior to this, a separatist Irish parliament had been established in Dublin, which did not recognise the Government of Ireland Act, and was actively engaged in the
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...
. The Act was intended to deliver
Home Rule Home rule is the government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governan ...
in Ireland, with separate parliaments for Southern Ireland (which included three of the nine counties of
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
) and
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. Six of the thirty-two
counties of Ireland The counties of Ireland (Irish language, Irish: ) are historic administrative divisions of the island. They began as Normans in Ireland, Norman structures, and as the powers exercised by the Cambro-Norman barons and the Old English (Ireland), ...
were assigned to Northern Ireland, and the rest of Ireland comprising 26 counties to Southern Ireland. The conclusion of the
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...
, and the subsequent signing of the
Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...
, led to the creation of the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
– a
dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...
established for the whole island of Ireland on 6 December 1922. The border became an international frontier after the
Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...
exercised its right to opt out of the Free State on 7 December 1922. The partition of 1921 created only a provisional boundary; a Boundary Commission met in 1924–25 to fix a permanent border between the two jurisdictions "in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants, so far as may be compatible with economic and geographic conditions". The manner in which the Boundary Commission clause was drafted in the
Anglo-Irish Treaty The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty (), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain an ...
was only explicit in its ambiguity.MFPP Working Paper No. 2, "The Creation and Consolidation of the Irish Border" by KJ Rankin and published in association with Institute for British-Irish Studies, University College Dublin and Institute for Governance, Queen's University, Belfast (also printed as IBIS working paper no. 48) Amongst politicians in Southern Ireland, there was remarkably little attention paid to the clause during the debates on the Treaty. The Republican activist
Seán MacEntee Seán Francis MacEntee (; 23 August 1889 – 9 January 1984) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 1959 to 1965, Minister for Social Welfare from 1957 to 1961, Minister for Health from 1957 to 1965, Minister for Lo ...
was a "lone voice" in warning that the commission would involve an exercise "in transferring from the jurisdiction of the Government of Northern Ireland certain people and certain districts which that Government cannot govern; and by giving instead to Northern Ireland, certain other districts—unionist districts of Counties
Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), Monaghan barony. The population of the town as of the 2022 cen ...
,
Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...
and Donegal, so that not only under this Treaty are we going to partition Ireland, not only are we going to partition Ulster, but we are going to partition even the counties of Ulster." The commission recommended parcels of land be transferred in both directions, primarily "in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants". The data was partially leaked to the press in 1925. Westminster urged the commissioners to suppress the rest of the document, and so no exchanges of land ultimately took place. The full report was not published until 1969- which did eventually confirm the accuracy of the earlier leak.''Report of the Irish Boundary Commission, 1925'' Introduced by Geoffrey J. Hand (Shannon: Irish University Press, 1969) The interim boundary was formalised in December 1925 by an inter-government agreement that was ratified by the three parliaments in London, Dublin and Belfast, without changes from the 1920 demarcation lines. The border agreement was then lodged with the
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
on 8 February 1926, making it a matter of
international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
. The Irish Free State was renamed ''Ireland'' () by the 1937 constitution, and the
Republic of Ireland Act 1948 The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 (No. 22 of 1948) is an Act of the Oireachtas which declares that the description of Ireland is the Republic of Ireland, and vests in the president of Ireland the power to exercise the executive authority of the ...
formally declared that the state was a republic with the official description ''Republic of Ireland'' while not changing its name, which remains ''Ireland''.


Customs and identity checks

Customs controls were introduced on the frontier on 1 April 1923, shortly after the establishment of the Irish Free State. These controls were maintained, with varying degrees of severity, until 1 January 1993, when systematic customs checks were abolished between European Community member states as part of the
single market A single market, sometimes called common market or internal market, is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of pr ...
. There are no longer any operational customs posts along either side of the border. Except during a brief period during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, it has never been necessary for Irish or British citizens to produce a passport to cross the border. However, during the 1970s troubles, security forces regularly asked travellers for identification.


Military checkpoints

During
the Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
in Northern Ireland, there were British military checkpoints on main border crossings and UK security forces made the remaining crossings impassable. By about 2005, in phase with
implementation Implementation is the realization of an application, execution of a plan, idea, scientific modelling, model, design, specification, Standardization, standard, algorithm, policy, or the Management, administration or management of a process or Goal ...
of the 1998
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...
, the last remaining controls were definitively removed.


Dropped proposals to reinstate border controls

In October 2007, details began to emerge of a
British Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
plan that might end the Common Travel Area encompassing the United Kingdom and Ireland (and also the Isle of Man and Channel Islands) in 2009, possibly creating an anomalous position for Northern Ireland in the process. In a statement to
Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( ; , ) is the lower house and principal chamber of the Oireachtas, which also includes the president of Ireland and a senate called Seanad Éireann.Article 15.1.2° of the Constitution of Ireland reads: "The Oireachtas shall co ...
, the Irish
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...
assured the House that "British authorities have no plans whatsoever to introduce any controls on the land border between North and South. I want to make that clear. All they are looking at is increased cross-border cooperation, targeting illegal immigrants." This immediately raised concerns north of the border.
Jim Allister James Hugh Allister (born 2 April 1953) is a Northern Irish unionist politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Antrim since the 2024 general election. He founded the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in 20 ...
, a former member of the
Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...
and then a
Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...
, told ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' that it would be "intolerable and preposterous if citizens of the UK had to present a passport to enter another part of the UK". In July 2008, the UK and Irish governments announced their intent to resume controls over their common border and the Common Travel Area in general. Each proposed to introduce detailed passport control over travellers from the other state, where travel is by air or sea. However, the land border will be 'lightly controlled'. In a joint statement,
Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith, Baroness Smith of Malvern (born 3 November 1962), is a British politician, broadcaster and life peer who has been serving as Minister of State for Skills since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Pa ...
, the British Home Secretary, and Dermot Ahern, the Irish Justice Minister, said:
It is crucial that our two countries work closely together to ensure our borders are stronger than ever. Both governments fully recognise the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland. Both governments reaffirm that they have no plans to introduce fixed controls on either side of the Irish land border.
''The Times'' reported that another consultation paper was to be published in the autumn of 2008 on whether people travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom should be subject to further checks.
One proposal is expected to suggest extending the electronic borders scheme, requiring travellers from Northern Ireland to provide their personal details in advance. This would mean residents of one part of the UK being treated differently from others when travelling within the country, something to which Unionists would object.
However, in 2011, the governments renewed the 'de facto' agreement.


The 2011 inter-government agreement

2011 marked the first public agreement between the UK and Irish governments concerning the maintenance of the Common Travel Area. Officially entitled the "Joint Statement Regarding Co-Operation on Measures to Secure the External Common Travel Area Border", it was signed in Dublin on 20 December 2011 by the UK's immigration minister,
Damian Green Damian Howard Green (born 17 January 1956) is a British politician who served as First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office from June to December 2017 in the second May government. A member of the Conservative Party, he s ...
and Ireland's Minister for Justice,
Alan Shatter Alan Joseph Shatter (born 14 February 1951) is an Irish lawyer, author and former Fine Gael politician who served as Minister for Justice and Equality and Minister for Defence from 2011 to 2014. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin S ...
.


Traffic

The border is linked with 268 (often approximated as "up to 275") border crossing points. Every month approximately 177,000 lorries, 208,000 vans, and 1,850,000 cars cross the border. Around 30,000 people cross the border daily to commute.


The Troubles

The Troubles in Northern Ireland required that attempts were made from the early 1970s until the late 1990s to enforce border controls. Many smaller cross-border roads were cratered or blockaded by the British Army with the intention of making them impassable to regular traffic. Bridges were also destroyed to prevent access at unauthorised border crossings (known officially as "unapproved roads"). In particular, the border area in south
County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
was dominated by
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
surveillance posts.
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
, the second-largest city in Northern Ireland, is close to the border with
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
. This meant that there was a heavy security presence around the city, often impeding traffic and general movement between Derry City and County Donegal. Despite these measures, the border was simply too long and had too many minor access roads to enable control of all cross-border movements. British Prime minister
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
stated that there was "no way we can patrol the 500 miles f border. During the period, authorised crossing-points on the border remained open to civilian traffic in both directions at all times although vehicles and their occupants were subject to detailed searches while some crossing points were closed to vehicle traffic at night when customs posts were unstaffed. Despite measures taken by the Irish government during the Troubles,
Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...
militants, including the
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...
(PIRA), had a measure of "safe haven" over the border. The PIRA also raised money in the Republic, mostly through bank robberies, and undertook "cross border raids". Difficulty in patrolling parts of the border and large taxation/currency differences (particularly during the 1980s) led to widespread smuggling. However, greater European integration led to roughly similar tax rates on most items and easing of restrictions on cross-border trade. Smuggling nowadays is mostly limited to fuel, livestock and a seasonal trade in illegal fireworks, which are strictly regulated in Ireland – in both countries there are restrictions on the types which can be used and a licence is required to possess or use fireworks, but in Ireland such licences are seldom issued to private individuals. While it still exists ''
de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...
'', the border presents no impediments to traffic in either direction. The Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland, EU integration and the demilitarisation of the border following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement resulted in an open border by default. Following the
Northern Ireland peace process The Northern Ireland peace process includes the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and subsequent political develop ...
, military electronic surveillance and permanent vehicle checkpoints have been replaced by routine PSNI patrols.


Status post-Brexit

The UK voted to leave the European Union in a referendum on 23 June 2016. Their withdrawal made the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border an external EU border. The Irish government, the UK government and EU representatives, all stated that they did not wish for a hard border in Ireland due to the sensitive nature of the border.'Onus on British to resolve Irish border issue for Brexit: Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Coveney
The
Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...
, 28 July 2017
In order to forestall this, and to prevent a backdoor into the
European Single Market The European single market, also known as the European internal market or the European common market, is the single market comprising mainly the member states of the European Union (EU). With certain exceptions, it also comprises Iceland, ...
, the UK proposed a backstop agreement within the Withdrawal Agreement that would put Northern Ireland under a range of EU rules in order to forestall the need for border checks. This was opposed by the subsequent British government as producing an effective border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In late October 2019, the UK and EU reached a
Brexit withdrawal agreement The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...
which contains a revised Northern Ireland Protocol that commits the UK to maintaining an open border in Ireland, so that (in many respects), the ''de facto'' border is the Irish Sea. As well as immigration and trade, a range of other issues of cross border cooperation, such as on health,Brexit: Hard border 'could risk patient care' says BMA
BBC, 2 June 2017
were raised.


Distinctive physical characteristics

The border is extremely irregular. Its irregularities were inherited from well-established county boundaries. The border is not explicitly described in statute but only implicitly inferred from the territorial definition of Northern Ireland as contained in the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It states that "Northern Ireland shall consist of the parliamentary counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and the parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry, and Southern Ireland shall consist of so much of Ireland as is not comprised within the said parliamentary counties and boroughs." The border has some distinctive features. Firstly, how irregular it is: the border is about four times the straight-line distance between Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough. Second, County Donegal is only connected to the rest of the Republic of Ireland by a territorial
isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...
wide, making it more convenient for some journeys from Donegal to other parts of the Republic of Ireland to pass through Northern Ireland. Third, for only two relatively short sections of the border does it align with the provincial boundary of nine county
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
between Fermanagh-Leitrim and Armagh-Louth. And lastly, as the border skirts Tyrone to the west and again to the south east, it encompasses County Fermanagh on three sides. As a remnant of 17th-century county limits, the border's physical profile indicates that it follows many watercourses but only in the highlands of the Cavan-Fermanagh section could the border be said to accord with any significant physical impediments to movement. There are around 270 road border crossings, with some roads traversing the border several times. Similarly, before its closure in 1957, a section of one railway line between Clones and
Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...
crossed the border six times in , initially with customs checks at each crossing. Further railways including Great Northern Railway crossed the border several times.


Road crossings

Between 270 and 300 roads cross the border, with some roads crossing the border more than once. While some roads cross the border twice or three times, the N54/ A3 road crosses the border four times within . The larger and busier border crossings include national primary (N) roads in the Republic of Ireland which connect to primary route (A) roads in Northern Ireland. As of 2007, the busiest such roads were the N1/ A1 route (Dundalk/Newry), N13/ A2 route (Letterkenny/Derry) and N15/ A38 route (Lifford/Strabane).


Maritime border

A 1988 treaty demarcates the boundary of the
exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...
s across the
continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...
from the south Irish Sea southwest to the
Celtic Sea The Celtic Sea is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Ireland bounded to the north by St George's Channel, Saint George's Channel; other limits include the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, and the Bay of Biscay, as wel ...
.


Waters around Northern Ireland

The exact division of territorial waters between Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland ('Southern Ireland' being coterminous with the territory of the modern-day Irish state) was a matter of some controversy from the outset. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 did not explicitly address the position of territorial waters although Section 11(4) provided that neither Southern Ireland nor Northern Ireland would have any competence to make laws in respect of "Lighthouses, buoys, or beacons (except so far as they can consistently with any general Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom be constructed or maintained by a local harbour authority)". When the territory that initially was Southern Ireland ultimately became a separate self-governing dominion outside the United Kingdom known as the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
, the status of the territorial waters naturally took on a significance it had not had before. Northern Ireland's Unionists were conscious of this matter from an early stage. They were keen to put it beyond doubt that the territorial waters around Northern Ireland would not belong to the Irish Free State. In this regard, James Craig, the
Prime Minister of Northern Ireland The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland (1921–1972), Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920; however, the L ...
put the following question in the British House of Commons on 27 November 1922 (the month before the establishment of the Irish Free State): In response the Attorney General, Sir Douglas Hogg, said that "I have considered the question, and I have given an opinion that that is so .e. the territorial waters do go with the counties. However, this interpretation that the territorial waters went with the counties was later disputed by Irish governments. On 29 February 1972, the then Taoiseach,
Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979. He was Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, ...
, summarised the Irish position during a Dáil debate on the legal status of HMS ''Maidstone'', a
prison ship A prison ship, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoner of war, prisoners of war or civilian internees. Some prison ships were hulk (ship type), hulked. W ...
which was moored in
Belfast Harbour Belfast Harbour is a major maritime hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, handling 67% of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade and about 25% of the maritime trade of the entire island of Ireland. It is a vital gateway for raw materials, exports and c ...
at the time: A particular dispute arose between the Government of the Irish Free State of the one part and the Northern Ireland and UK governments of the other part over territorial waters in
Lough Foyle Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over t ...
. Lough Foyle lies between
County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...
in Northern Ireland and
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
in the then Irish Free State. A court case in the Free State in 1923 relating to fishing rights in Lough Foyle held that the Free State's territorial waters ran right up to the shore of County Londonderry. In 1927,
illegal fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes pl ...
on Lough Foyle had become so grave that Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Craig entered into correspondence with his Free State counterpart, W. T. Cosgrave. Craig indicated to Cosgrave that he proposed to introduce a bill giving the
Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...
powers to stop and search vessels on Lough Foyle. Cosgrave asserted all of Lough Foyle was Free State territory and that as such a bill of that nature would be rejected by the Free State and its introduction would create "a very serious situation". Cosgrave then raised the matter with the British government. Claims by The Honourable The Irish Society that its fishing rights in the Foyle were being violated by poachers from the Donegal side led to the 1952 creation of the Foyle Fisheries Commission under the joint authority of the Dublin and Belfast governments, which solved problems of jurisdiction without addressing the sovereignty question. The commission was superseded by the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission established after the Good Friday Agreement under the remit of the
North/South Ministerial Council The North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) (, Ulster-Scots: ) is a body established under the Good Friday Agreement to co-ordinate activity and exercise certain governmental powers across the whole island of Ireland. The Council takes the for ...
. For as long as both states remain members of the EU (and thus the
Common Fisheries Policy The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is the fishery, fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which Member state of the European Union, member states are allowed to catch each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishin ...
), the territorial waters are not disputed in practice between the two states. Their respective
exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...
s (EEZs) begin beyond their territorial waters and the boundary between them was agreed in 2014. but the precise
maritime boundary A maritime boundary is a conceptual division of Earth's water surface areas using physiographical or geopolitical criteria. As such, it usually bounds areas of exclusive national rights over mineral and biological resources,VLIZ Maritime Boun ...
between Ireland and the United Kingdom concerning Lough Foyle (and similarly
Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, the border between Northern Ireland to the nor ...
) remains disputed in principle. As recently as 2005, when asked to list those areas of EU member states where border definition is in dispute, a British Government minister responding for the
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The secretary of state for foreign, commonwealth and development affairs, also known as the foreign secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, Government of the United Kingdo ...
stated: During Dáil debates on the Carlingford Fisheries Bill, a contributor to the debate stated that he welcomed "the Bill's aim of defining the area of jurisdiction over the Foyle". However, the Irish Foyle and Carlingford Fisheries Act 2007 does not mention this issue; neither does the virtually identical British "Foyle and Carlingford Fisheries (Northern Ireland) Order 2007": each merely refers to "the Commission's waters". The UK's
Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...
underlined its view in 2009: A corresponding statement was made by Conor Lenihan, then an Irish Government Minister:


Identification

It is estimated that there are 300 major and minor crossings along the border. The border is marked only by a small number of "Welcome To Northern Ireland" road signs on the UK side, placed there by the Northern Ireland Roads Service. This can make identifying the border difficult for those unfamiliar with landmarks known to locals as the crossing point. At some crossings, there are signs welcoming visitors to the relevant local government authority district or, occasionally, reminding motorists of the need to ensure that their insurance is valid in the relevant jurisdiction. Generally, signposts in Ireland which indicate distances to destinations are bilingual (in Irish and English) and give distances in kilometres while such signposts in Northern Ireland are only in English and give distances in miles. On larger roads, the approximate location of the border can be determined by signs reminding the driver of the change in units. In Northern Ireland, place-name and street/road-name signs are usually (but not always) English-only and street/road-name signs are more standardised and extensively used. There are other immediate indicators when crossing the border: differences in the design of road signage and a change in road markings. The hard shoulder on non-motorway roads in Ireland is marked with a yellow, usually broken, line. The same marking in Northern Ireland is white and usually continuous. In Northern Ireland, roads use A (major) and B (minor) route prefixes, whereas Ireland's route prefixes are M (motorway) N (major, standing for ''national'') and R (minor, standing for ''regional''). Road signs in both the Republic and those in Northern Ireland are mainly black/white/red triangles or circles (the same as the rest of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
). Signs have subtle differences in colouring and fonts. One notable exception to this is that hazard warning signs in the Republic are amber diamonds. Since the adoption by Ireland of
metric Metric or metrical may refer to: Measuring * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics ...
speed limits, warning signs have been placed on either side of the border to alert motorists to the change to or from miles or
kilometres per hour The kilometre per hour (International System of Units, SI symbol: km/h; non-SI abbreviations: kph, kmph, km/hr) is a Units of measurement, unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour. History Although the metre was f ...
. As the United Kingdom does not use the
euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
, advertised prices for service stations and shops will change currency on crossing, although many places along the border will accept cross-border currency informally (albeit usually at a rate favourable to the trader). Other typical signs of crossing a European border are also noticeable. These include subtle differences in the paving materials of road surfaces and pavements, sometimes with visible differences in colour between materials across the border, changes to street lighting when crossing the border, (though these also vary across inter-county borders), and changes in the colour of postboxes (green in Ireland, red in Northern Ireland). By rail, there is no immediate sign of crossing the border, but the trackside mileage markers change from Irish-style markers at the post (from
Dublin Connolly railway station Connolly station () or Dublin Connolly is the busiest railway station in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCity, Enterprise and commuter services t ...
) to black-on-yellow markers, common to the United Kingdom, at the post, between
Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...
and
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
stations.


Mobile phone roaming charges

As in most places, radio signals from the cellular networks on both sides of the border often travel several kilometres (a few miles) across it. This was a source of annoyance to those resident in border areas when
roaming Roaming is a wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information (''telecommunication'') between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or oth ...
charges were incurred with most service providers if the phone connects to the "wrong" network when making or even receiving a call. Inter-member mobile phone roaming charges were abolished in the European Union from 15 June 2017. This arrangement has so far continued after
Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
.


Cultural references

'' Puckoon'' is a
comic novel A comic novel is a Novel, novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's liter ...
by
Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...
, first published in 1963. It is set in 1924 and details the troubles brought to the fictional Irish village of Puckoon by the
Partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...
when the new border passes directly through the village. It was later made into a film in 2002. Irish touring cyclist and author of adventure travel books Dervla Murphy travelled by bicycle from
Lismore, County Waterford Lismore () is a historic town in County Waterford, in the province of Munster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally associated with Mo Chutu of Lismore, Saint Mochuda of Lismore, who founded Lismore Abbey in the 6th century, the town develop ...
to
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
during the height of
The Troubles The Troubles () were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed t ...
and wrote of the experience in her 1978 book '' A Place Apart'', including encounters along the border. In the 1980s,
Colm Tóibín Colm Tóibín ( , ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet. His first novel, ''The South (novel), The South'', was published in 1990. ''The Blackwater Lightship'' was short ...
walked the length of the border, later releasing a travel book entitled '' Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border''. Following the Brexit vote in 2016, a
mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
about a fictional post-Brexit border patrol named the '' Soft Border Patrol'' was produced by the BBC. In 2018, an anonymous Twitter account called @BorderIrish gained notability tweeting as the Irish border in the first person, and the implications that Brexit would have for it. The work of Irish folk-punk singer Jinx Lennon sometimes draws inspiration from his upbringing along the border as well as societal issues which affect the people living there. His 2020 album ''"Border Schizo FFFolk Songs For The Fuc**d"'', self-described as a "psychedelic punk-folk
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
journey through the hinterlands of the Irish Border", explored such themes as
cocaine dependence Cocaine dependence is a neurological disorder that is characterized by withdrawal symptoms upon cessation from cocaine use. It also often coincides with cocaine addiction which is a biopsychosocial disorder characterized by persistent use of c ...
, pride in rural Ireland and the 2014 Garda whistleblower scandal. His 2021 follow-up album, ''"Liferafts for Latchicos"'', was described by Lennon as a "solid border album", including a song named "Border Lad".


Border settlements

The following cities, towns and villages are located on the border or not far from it (listed from
Lough Foyle Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over t ...
to
Carlingford Lough Carlingford Lough (, Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster Scots: ''Carlinford Loch'') is a glacial fjord or sea inlet in northeastern Ireland, forming part of Republic of Ireland – United Kingdom border, the border between Northern Ireland to the nor ...
): * Muff, Inishowen, County Donegal * Culmore,
County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...
*
Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...
, County Londonderry * Bridgend, County Donegal * Killea, County Donegal * Newtowncunningham, County Donegal * Carrigans, County Donegal * St Johnston, County Donegal *
Lifford Lifford (, historically anglicised as ''Liffer'') is the county town of County Donegal, Ireland, the administrative centre of the county and the seat of Donegal County Council, although the town of Letterkenny is often mistaken as holding this ...
, County Donegal (linked to Strabane by Lifford Bridge) *
Strabane Strabane (; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,507 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Government Li ...
,
County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...
(linked to Lifford by Lifford Bridge) * Clady, County Tyrone *
Castlefin Castlefin (), sometimes spelt Castlefinn, is a market town and townland in the Finn Valley of County Donegal, Ireland. It is located between Stranorlar and Lifford in East Donegal. , the population was 730. The River Finn flows by the town. Th ...
, County Donegal *
Castlederg Castlederg (earlier Caslanadergy, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Derg and is near the border with County Donegal, Ireland. It stands in the townlands of Castlesessagh and Churchtown, in the historic baro ...
, County Tyrone * Killeter, County Tyrone * Pettigo, County Donegal and Tullyhommon,
County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
(separated by a river) *
Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...
, County Donegal *
Bundoran Bundoran () is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. The town is located near the N15 road near Ballyshannon, and is the most southerly town in Donegal. The town is a tourist seaside resort, and tourism has been at the heart of the local economy s ...
, County Donegal *
Belleek, County Fermanagh Belleek (Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 182. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a large village and civil parish in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. While the greater part of the village lies within County Fermanagh, part ...
(part of Belleek is actually in
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
, as the border passes through the town but most of it is on the 'northern' side) * Kiltyclogher,
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...
*
Garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...
,
County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
*
Manorhamilton Manorhamilton () is the second-largest town in County Leitrim, Ireland. It is located on the N16 from Sligo and from Enniskillen. History Before the Plantations of Ireland, the settlement was known, and continues to be known in the ...
,
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...
* Glenfarne,
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...
* Rossinver,
County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim, County Leitr ...
*
Blacklion Blacklion (; originally ''An Leargaidh'') is a village in the north-west of County Cavan in Ireland. It is situated on the N16 national primary road, just across the border from Belcoo, a village in the south-west of County Fermanagh. H ...
,
County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...
and *
Belcoo Belcoo ( ()Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 172. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. is a small village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, from Enniskillen. It is on the County Fermanagh/County Cavan border besid ...
, County Fermanagh (linked to Blacklion by bridge) *
Florencecourt Florencecourt is a small village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 census it had a population (with Drumlaghy) of 135 people. It is situated within Fermanagh and Omagh district. Historically the area was called "Mullanashanga ...
, County Fermanagh * Holywell, County Fermanagh * Swanlinbar, County Cavan * Ballyconnell, County Cavan * Belturbet, County Cavan * Butlersbridge, County Cavan *
Derrylin Derrylin ( or "Oakgrove of the blackbirds") is a village and townland in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is on the A509 road between Enniskillen and the border with County Cavan (the N3 road to Dublin). It had a population of 634 in t ...
, County Fermanagh *
Scotshouse Scotshouse () is a small agricultural village in the Civil parishes in Ireland, parish of Currin in County Monaghan, Ireland. It is roughly three miles east of where the counties of County Cavan, Cavan, County Fermanagh, Fermanagh and Monaghan m ...
,
County Monaghan County Monaghan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of Border Region, Border strategic planning area of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town ...
* Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh *
Clones, County Monaghan Clones ( ; , meaning 'meadow of Eois') is a small town in the west of County Monaghan in Ireland. The area is part of the List of regions of the Republic of Ireland, Border Region in the Republic of Ireland, earmarked for economic development b ...
* Aughnacloy, County Tyrone *
Glaslough Glaslough ( ; ) is a village and townland in the north of County Monaghan, Ireland, on the R185 regional road south of the border with Northern Ireland and northeast of Monaghan town. Glaslough won the Irish Tidy Towns Competition in 1978 a ...
, County Monaghan * Drummully, County Monaghan * Caledon, County Tyrone * Middletown, County Armagh * Keady, County Armagh * Derrynoose, County Armagh * Newtownhamilton, County Armagh * Cullaville, County Armagh * Forkhill, County Armagh *
Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...
,
County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
* Jonesborough, County Armagh *
Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, standing on the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Down, Down and County Armagh, Armagh. It is near Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, the border with the ...
, County Armagh/
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...
* Meigh, County Armagh * Warrenpoint, County Down * Omeath, County Louth * Faughart, County Louth/South Armagh


Major road crossings

The
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
Exit Analysis Branch identified fifteen principal points near border crossings in 2018, so they could be used as inspection points in case a post-
Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
deal collapsed. The border crossings these relate to are: * N1 / A1 * N53 / A37 * N2 / A5 * N12 / A3 * N54 / A3 * N3 / Senator George Mitchell Peace Bridge / A509 * N87 / A32 * N16 / A4 * N14 / N15 / A38 * N13 / A2


See also

* Border Region, Ireland * British–Irish relations **
Foreign relations of the United Kingdom The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are conducted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, headed by the Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom), foreign secretary. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minis ...
** Foreign relations of Ireland **
Irish nationality law The primary law governing nationality of Ireland is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which came into force on 17 July 1956. Ireland is a member state of the European Union (EU), and all Irish nationals are EU citizens. They ...
**
British nationality law The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...
** British nationality law and Ireland **
Common Travel Area The Common Travel Area (CTA; , ) is an open borders area comprising the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The British Overseas Territories are not included. Governed by non-binding agreements ...
* Irish Sea Bridge *
Repartition of Ireland The repartition of Ireland has been suggested as a possible solution to the The Troubles, conflict in Northern Ireland. In 1922 Ireland was partition of Ireland, partitioned on county lines, and left Northern Ireland with a mixture of both union ...
*
Partitionism In Ireland, partitionism () refers to views on Irish Politics of Ireland, politics, Culture of Ireland, culture, Geography of Ireland, geography, or History of Ireland, history that treat Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as distinct ...
* Brexit and the Irish border


Sources

*


References


Notes


External links


Centre for Cross Border Studies
promotes "Cross-border Cooperation" under the
Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...
; spinoff websites:
Border People
"the central access point for cross-border mobility information on the island of Ireland", developed for the
North/South Ministerial Council The North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) (, Ulster-Scots: ) is a body established under the Good Friday Agreement to co-ordinate activity and exercise certain governmental powers across the whole island of Ireland. The Council takes the for ...

Border Ireland
"online searchable database of cross-border information" (funding ended in 2009)
Mapping Frontiers
2004–06 joint project of
Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...
and
University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

"Perspectives on the Irish Border"
(2023) Vol. 6 No. 2 of ''Review of Irish Studies in Europe'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland-United Kingdom border European Union external borders 1921 establishments in the United Kingdom 1921 establishments in Ireland 1921 in international relations
border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...
Borders of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
International borders Geography of Ireland Historical geography of the United Kingdom Borders of Northern Ireland