This past weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Belfast once again - since my daughter Vicki went to College there I have been a regular visitor, and I love it. This weekend we went to the Giant's Causeway and a drive around the Causeway Coastal Route. I had last travelled this route on my bike in 2014.
Brexit casts a shadow from far-away London over Northern Ireland. Some welcome this shadow, while others dread the day next year when the UK leaves the European Union. While Northern Ireland voted 56% Remain and 44% Leave - it will leave the EU along with the mostly grey English vote who have had enough of Europe. Along with many people in Ireland I cannot understand the Brexit vote, and the national self-destruction it brings (from my eye). While driving across the border on the way to Belfast, and later on the way home to Dublin - the borderless border somehow feels natural. In a sense, driving from Co Armagh into Co Louth, feels like driving from Co Wicklow to Co Wexford - only a sign tells you that the two places have different names.
Along with everyone else, I await the solution that the Oxford/Cambridge trained minds of the UK Government and Civil Service will eventually come up with. I truly believe that some of the smartest people in the world must be able to come up with a solution that works for everybody. The UK government does not yet seem capable of deciding what is best for the UK - but I am hopeful they will. Any kind of border between our two parts in this island must be avoided - but it seems increasingly impossible. I fear for the future and the return of the days when I feel that visiting Belfast will become a memory.
What would Fionn Mac Cumhaill think?
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