How the Drummully Polyp reveals why Brexit and its controversial backstop have floundered on the UK/Ireland border
IT sounds like a bizarre sea creature or a cancerous nodule.
But a squiggle on the map called the Drummully Polyp helps explain how Brexit — and its controversial backstop — have so far floundered in the river meadows here on the UK/Ireland border.
To reach Eugene and Mary Maguire’s secluded bungalow next to the polyp, I crossed the zig-zagging UK frontier with the Irish Republic SEVEN TIMES in as many miles.
Lorry driver Eugene, 70, jokes: “The guy who drew the border must have had too much Black Bush whiskey.”
But when the clock strikes midnight on October 31, it seems the polyp will be part of the new 300-mile dividing line between the EU and the UK. It’s the Brexiteer-loathed backstop — which PM Boris Johnson has demanded is scrapped from the Withdrawal Agreement — that is the main stumbling block to the UK leaving with a deal.
Former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) councillor Bertie Kerr, 81, who farms cattle at Ballinamallard, Co Fermanagh, said: “The backstop is treasonable. It’s that bad.”
The troubled history here — and the snaking border — reveal why the backstop was cooked up in the first place.
The polyp, also known as The Connons or Coleman Island, is a four-square mile sliver of Ireland almost totally surrounded by the UK.
A 300ft-wide strip of land connects it to the rest of the Republic.
Said to have originated when the medieval McMahon clan won the land from the Maguire clan, this strip of Co Monaghan became part of the Irish Free State in 1922 following the Irish War of Independence.
Neighbouring Co Fermanagh was one of the six counties which broke away to form Protestant-majority Northern Ireland.
During the Troubles the roads leading to the polyp were controlled by British Army checkpoints or blocked with metal spikes or ditches.
The 30-year conflict between Protestants and Catholics formally ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace deal.
Today the watchtowers and armed patrols are long gone.
Only lines in the Tarmac and different road markings and signs mark the change between north and south.
Families like the Maguires — whose nearest town is Clones in the Republic — may cross the border a dozen times a day with sterling in one pocket and euros in the other.
Dad-of-four Eugene, who did not vote in the EU referendum, insists: “How could you police this border? We want no customs men, no border.” Wife Mary, 70, who voted Remain, added: “We want to go and see our neighbours without going through border checks.”
A shop assistant nearby tells me it would be “war” if a hard border of customs and immigration were erected.
It’s no idle threat. At a nearby border crossing, a sign saying “Welcome to Northern Ireland” is riddled with eight bullet holes.
‘A HUGE FLAW’
On Monday a bomb exploded close to the polyp near .
It was blamed on dissident republicans attempting to lure police and soldiers to their deaths.
The backstop was dreamt up to prevent a return to the dark days of violence that a hard border would likely bring. It would kick in if the UK and EU failed to negotiate a trade deal that kept the border open.
But, crucially, under the deal the UK could only leave the backstop with EU approval.
Local businessman Irwin Armstrong, 68, a former chair of the Conservatives in Northern Ireland, said: “The backstop is like Hotel California, where you can check out but never leave. That’s not acceptable.”
It is this EU veto that saw Theresa May’s deal defeated heavily in the Commons.
The UK, EU and Ireland have all pledged to keep the border open but there are real fears here about what will happen come October 31.
PM Johnson’s government is propped up by ten Democratic Unionist (DUP) MPs who are pro-Brexit but say the backstop in its current form is “a huge fundamental flaw”.
Sinn Fein — which doesn’t take its seats in the Commons — says a No Deal Brexit would wreck the peace process and should trigger a referendum on uniting Ireland.
Northern Ireland — population 1.9million — voted Remain in the EU referendum by a majority of 56 to 44 per cent. Large quantities of beef, lamb and milk cross the Irish border every day.
Farmers in Northern Ireland sell roughly 400,000 lambs and 800million litres of milk to the Republic every year.
But former UUP MP Tom Elliott, who farms in Ballinamallard, insists the border issues can be worked out without the backstop.
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The 55-year-old Brexiteer said: “Cattle and lambs are all ear-tagged and identified. Nearly all produce can be electronically followed.”
Back at the polyp, Catholic Eugene is confident the PM will broker a deal to keep the border open.
“I didn’t fall out with my Protestant neighbours during the Troubles,” he said. “And I certainly won’t over Brexit.”
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