Brexit: Irish border crossing points '˜impossible to police'

Gregory Campbell was speaking after it emerged that the Irish Republic’s Defence Forces, in conjunction with the Garda, has completed a confidential mapping exercise of the 300-mile frontier with NI, and found substantially more routes into the region than previously thought.

According to the Irish Independent newspaper, the routes are understood to include country lanes, private roads, rights of way across private lands and other unmarked access points leading into Northern Ireland that could be potential smuggling routes.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, East Londonderry MP Mr Campbell said that – if the number of crossings is accurate – it would negate any requirement for a backstop designed to prevent a hard border post-Brexit.

According to the Irish Independent, the last official report on the border identified 208 official crossing points. That report was published jointly in July by the Republic’s Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport and the Department of Infrastructure in NI.

However, it highlighted only public roadways along the border that stretches from Donegal to Down and did not include any private roads.

Mr Campbell told the News Letter: “This seems to confirm what I and others have been saying over the last number of months.

“It means there are near enough the same number of crossing points as there are miles along the border, almost one every mile.

“Therefore, if that is the case, it would be totally and utterly impossible to police a border of that magnitude.

“The most relevant point in all of this, why do you need a backstop to prevent a hard border if you are admitting the practical reality that policing the border simply can’t be done?”