The Irish border issue is not going away, no matter how much the UK government may wish it away

The European Commission's Draft Legal Text on UK Withdrawal from the EU has kept closely to the European Commission-UK's Joint Statement of December 8th. There are, however, some differences which signal the EU's growing impatience with the Brexit negotiations, observes Etain Tannam (Trinity College Dublin). Some of these differences could become bargaining chips to facilitate agreement with the DUP. Ultimately, one thing is for sure: the Irish border issue is not going away, no matter how much UK government may wish it away, she concludes.