Professor Imelda Maher at the Luke Wadding Lecture Series

Professor Imelda Maher spoke on Brexit, the Common Travel Area and the Irish Land Border as part of the Luke Wadding Lecture Series in the Waterford Institute of Technology.  In her paper she noted how the common travel area goes much further than simply allowing travel with British and Irish citizens benefiting from education, health care and social welfare in each jurisdiction.  There is general agreement  to sustain the common travel area between the UK and Ireland after Brexit.  The challenges surrounding the UK leaving the customs union and single market however poses problems especially for people travelling across the land border and between the two islands.  The common regulatory area proposed in February (the back stop) for Northern Ireland remains the most likely outcome with a long transition to any other arrangement.