For the moment that a majority of Britons decided 14 months ago that their nation should no longer remain part of the European Union, the issue of the United Kingdom’s border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to the south has been a complex conundrum between London, Brussels and Dublin. At present, there are no border checks, no security posts, no customs measures, allowing for the free passage of people, goods, services and trade between the two EU nations — the same set of arrangements that exist on the continent between most of the other 26 EU member states.

But the issue of the border between north and south on the divided Ireland is an emotive one, a frontier that was created in 1921 as the then Irish free state won independence from its colonial master of 800 years, setting the sectarian ingredients and historical elements in place for what would be a vicious and violent three decades of terrorism that resulted in the loss of more than 3,600 people.

It was Europe’s most-protracted armed conflict, and peace was hard won. It took men of vision to bring peace to the province, and that peace is underwritten by the free movement of people and goods that have brought prosperity. Even now, that peace is not fully secure, and is referred to as a “peace process”. Simply put, there can be no return to any hard border in Ireland.

Brussels has set the border between Ireland and the UK as a red line issue, one that along with London’s bill for leaving and the fate of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in Europe that must be resolved first before any other trade or economic issues can be discussed during the Brexit negotiations.

Earlier this week, the London government issued a policy document outlining its plans for the Irish border after March 2019 when Brexit is due to take force. It envisages a soft, open border between the two, and envisages larger companies volunteering customs information to allow for the current free movement of goods to exist. Sadly, however, the London plan comes up short, and Ireland would become a backdoor for goods and would be hit with much great enforcement issues to prevent Chinese steel or other cheap non-EU goods flowing across the border in each direction. That’s not good enough and London needs to rethink its plans. It put itself in this mess, and Ireland shouldn’t have to pay for Britain’s folly.