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From The Times
July 25, 2008

Irish border: looping frontier was terrorism’s great ally

David Sharrock: Analysis

The Irish border is the UK’s only land frontier and one of the world’s least protected. Rambling and looping for 224 miles (360km), its topography made it for decades one of terrorism’s greatest allies. The Provisional IRA used it to such effect that the Government was eventually forced to blow up most of the crossing points and reinforce the remainder with army checkpoints. These, in turn, became highly desirable targets for terrorist attack. Although it was never necessary for citizens of Ireland and the UK to show their passports at the border, thanks to the Common Travel Area agreement worked out in 1923, soldiers and police on both sides often asked travellers for their documents during the Troubles. Experience shows that policing the border is a Herculean task. Bertie Ahern, the former Irish Prime Minister, claimed last year that 90 per cent of illegal immigrants entering the Republic did so via Northern Ireland.

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