Contributed from Victoria

The Uk and Ireland are facing a showdown over Brexit. The UK retains control over that part of the island known as Northern Ireland.

The threat is that Brexit without a satisfactory agreement would put a question mark over trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland and between both at Britain.

Theresa May’s Conservative Party government is due to have the next round of talks with the European Union in on 14 and 15 of December.

Gerry Adams, the leader of the Republican Sinn Fein has called on the Irish leader (Taoiseach),Leo Varadkar, to block the December talks by using the veto power, unless there is a written guarantee that the border with the North will remain open.

Brexit is not popular in Northern Ireland either. Despite this, the leading Protestant party the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) continues to prioritise keeping the Conservatives in government in London, and is doing nothing and about a process,  which will pull the north out of the European Union.

Gerry Adams accused them of being “totally irrational and illogical” and being “disrespectful that the people of the north voted to remain [in the EU] and that should be upheld”.

“Brexit in British Tory terms is bad for every single person on this island and bad for the economy. We need to be standing very firm. The North needs to be kept in the European Union,” he added.

There is a fear that if the border between the two parts of Ireland hardens, there will be set back in the process of peace and reconciliation and a return to the unrest of the past. Last year’s collapse of the Stormont assemby, where the DUP walked away from the power sharing agreement with the republican side, showed that there remains a major gulf between the two sides.

A block on trade and movement of people across the border is bound to create further tension.

At this point, the British government is keeping the cards close to its chest and is refusing to give any guarantee.