Northern Ireland closes schools in effort to combat COVID-19

October 14, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland introduced the tightest COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, closing schools, pubs and restaurants in a effort to slow the spread of the virus. The restrictions include a two-week closure for schools and a four-week shutdown of pubs and restaurants, except for takeaway orders. The announcement came after talks among political parties that stretched from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

“This is not the time for trite political points,'' First Minister Arlene Foster told lawmakers at the regional assembly in Belfast as she announced the decision. “This is the time for solutions.'' The move came as the U.K. government debated whether to extend tough new social restrictions to more parts of England as its three-tier plan for slowing the spread of COVID-19 takes effect.

U.K. health officials are meeting Wednesday to discuss whether to add other areas of northern England — including Manchester and Lancashire — to the country's highest virus risk tier, meaning additional measures such as closing pubs could soon be imposed there.

Only the northern city of Liverpool was placed in the highest risk category when the plan was unveiled Monday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being criticized by all sides two days after announcing his three-tier approach that seeks to curtail a fall resurgence of the virus. A report released Tuesday showed that the government’s science advisers had urged his government to install much tougher measures, including a two- to three-week national lockdown.

The opposition Labor Party has called for that advice to be followed, while some members of Johnson’s Conservative Party say the measures already in place go too far and are damaging Britain's virus-damaged economy.

Britain already has Europe's deadliest outbreak, with over 43,000 confirmed deaths.

Northern Ireland police issue warning on Brexit unrest

October 24, 2019

LONDON (AP) — The head of the police service in Northern Ireland has warned that any Brexit deal seen to threaten the United Kingdom could lead to disorder. Simon Byrne told the BBC on Wednesday that there was potential for unrest among communities who consider themselves loyal to the U.K.

Byrne says the "loyalist community has at times shown it can mobilize quickly, bring large numbers of people on to the streets and engage in public disorder in support of their cause." The Democratic Unionist Party has vociferously objected to elements in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's deal. They fear that proposals which treat Northern Ireland differently will bolster economic ties to the Republic of Ireland.

UK, Irish leaders see 'pathway' to elusive Brexit deal

October 10, 2019

LONDON (AP) — The leaders of Britain and Ireland said Thursday they had spotted a "pathway" to an elusive Brexit deal, keeping hopes of a breakthrough alive just three weeks before the U.K.'s deadline to leave the European Union.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Irish leader Leo Varadkar provided a status update on the issue after a private lunch meeting in northwest England that lasted for several hours. "Both continue to believe that a deal is in everybody's interest," they said in a joint statement. "They agreed that they could see a pathway to a possible deal."

Britain is due to leave the 28-nation bloc on Oct. 31, and attempts to find a deal have foundered over plans for the border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland. The currently all-but-invisible border underpins both the regional economy and Northern Ireland's peace process.

Under a U.K. proposal, there would have to be customs checks on some goods, though not on the border itself. The EU says any customs checks are unacceptable. There was little of substance in Varadkar and Johnson's statement indicating a breakthrough or whether the "pathway" was near or far off.

The two agreed to "reflect" further on their discussions, which concentrated on the challenges of customs and consent. They also agreed to keep talking. After the meeting, Varadkar sounded more positive than he has in recent weeks.

"I think it is possible for us to come to an agreement, to have a treaty to allow the U.K. to leave the EU in an orderly fashion, and to have that done by the end of October," he said. But he warned things could still go wrong, and added: "In terms of how long it will take, I can't predict that with any certainty."

In recent days, Britain and the EU have traded bad-tempered barbs about who is responsible for the deadlock in talks. After Johnson's Downing Street office claimed EU intransigence had made it "essentially impossible" for the U.K. to leave with a deal, European Commission President Donald Tusk warned against playing a "stupid blame game."

Varadkar and other EU leaders say Johnson, who took office in July, has repudiated the withdrawal agreement made with the bloc by his predecessor, Theresa May. That deal was rejected three times by Britain's Parliament, largely because of lawmakers' opposition to provisions to ensure an open Irish border.

Johnson insists the U.K. will leave the U.K. on Oct. 31, with or without a divorce deal. However, many members of Britain's Parliament are determined to prevent a no-deal Brexit, which economists say would plunge the U.K. economy into recession. Last month, they passed a law requiring the government to ask the EU for a delay if no divorce deal has been agreed by Oct. 19 — the day after a key summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

Johnson says he won't delay Brexit past Oct. 31 — but also will obey the law. It's unclear how the two statements can be reconciled. Parliament is expected to hold a rare Saturday sitting on Oct. 19 as lawmakers grapple with what to do next.

Danica Kirka in London contributed.

EU sees hope in Brexit talks; Irish leader sees wide gaps

October 09, 2019

BRUSSELS (AP) — Despite having only days to bridge wide divisions over Brexit, the European Union maintained a semblance of hope Wednesday that the acrimonious fight over Britain's departure from the bloc could somehow still be settled amicably.

Across the European Parliament, voices resonated with frustration that one of the most important events for both the EU and the U.K. in decades had turned into a tone-deaf dialogue only three weeks ahead of Britain's planned Oct. 31 departure.

EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was working together with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on a last-gasp solution. "Personally, I don't exclude a deal. Michel and myself are working on a deal," Juncker said.

He refused to be more specific but made clear that Brexit talks between the two sides haven't come to an irreparable standstill. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take his country out of the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a divorce deal. If Britain does leave, it will be the first EU nation to exit the bloc, ending almost half a century of U.K. membership that brought economic and diplomatic clout to both sides.

For now, Juncker insisted Johnson needed to stop pouring all the blame on the EU for the negotiating standstill. On Tuesday, Johnson's Downing Street office claimed EU intransigence had made it "essentially impossible" for the UK to leave with a deal.

"We are not accepting this blame game that started in London," Juncker said. Johnson, who took office in July after British lawmakers rejected the Brexit deal of his predecessor Theresa May three times, delivered his own Brexit proposals to the bloc last week.

Britain is seeking to renegotiate May's rejected divorce deal to loosen the economic ties binding the U.K. to the bloc while ensuring there is no hard border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland.

Barnier said the U.K.'s ideas were fundamentally flawed because they would mean imposing customs checks on the island of Ireland, and because they gave Northern Ireland's regional authority a veto on how to proceed.

"The proposal of the British government as things stand is not something we can accept," he said. Johnson's proposals crossed so many of the EU's red lines, Barnier said, that he would need to fundamentally revamp his proposals — something the British leader has said he will not do.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Ireland wanted a Brexit deal but "not at any cost." "It's going to be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly," Varadkar told Irish broadcaster RTE late Tuesday after a 40-minute phone call with Johnson.

"Essentially what the United Kingdom has done is repudiate the deal that we negotiated in good faith with Prime Minister (Theresa) May's government over two years and have sort of put half of that now back on the table and are saying, 'That's a concession.' And, of course, it isn't really," said the Irish leader.

The British government says it still hopes to strike a deal. Johnson and Varadkar are due to hold a private lunch in northwest England on Thursday, while U.K. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is scheduled to meet Barnier on Friday.

But Johnson also insists the U.K. will leave the U.K. on Oct. 31, come what may. However, many members of Britain's Parliament are determined to prevent a no-deal Brexit, which economists say would plunge the U.K. economy into recession. Last month they passed a law requiring the government to ask the EU for a delay if no divorce deal has been agreed by Oct. 19.

Anti-Brexit activists fear Johnson will try to wriggle out of that requirement, and asked Scotland's highest court to order the government to comply. Judges at the Court of Session in Edinburgh said Wednesday there was no need to make a ruling yet because the government had promised to obey the law. They said they would revisit the decision if Johnson did not ask for the extension.

Elaine Motion, a lawyer for the claimants, said "the sword of Damocles is over the prime minister's head" and he would have to seek a delay to Brexit.

Lawless reported from London

Irish border residents worry about future if no-deal Brexit

October 09, 2019

GREENORE, Ireland (AP) — The small ferry moves gently across the calm waters of Carlingford Lough, connecting the picturesque hamlet of Greencastle in Northern Ireland with the village of Greenore, a mile and a half away in the Republic of Ireland.

It began sailing a little more than two years ago, saving farmers, commuters and tourists an hour-long drive inland to the nearest bridge. The service is another sign that the border has all but vanished since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, ending decades of sectarian violence and creating a quiet sense of normality that older generations cherish and younger people may take for granted.

But if the U.K. leaves the European Union on Oct. 31 without a Brexit divorce deal, this local boat could find itself plying an international border. "We don't know what to expect," said Paul O'Sullivan, the ferry company's managing director. "Brexit has resulted in chaos for our company."

With both in the EU, the border barely resonates. As members, both the U.K. and Ireland have to abide by the rules of the club — the free movement of goods, services, capital and people. In a no-deal Brexit, that all goes and the border — the only land border between the U.K. and the EU — will resonate once again.

Little wonder then that it's been the most intractable issue in the Brexit negotiations over the past three or so years since the U.K. voted to leave the EU in June 2016. With little more than three weeks to go before the scheduled Brexit date of Oct. 31, the two sides have failed to agree on a plan to ensure the border remains open, without the checkpoints that were magnets for violence during three decades of conflict. More than 3,500 people died during "The Troubles."

"People in their 40s and 50s and older, we remember The Troubles very well," said 51-year-old Patrick Robinson, a member of Border Communities Against Brexit. "What started off as border troubles exactly like what is going to happen now escalated into what became known effectively as the civil war in Northern Ireland."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the U.K. as a whole, including Northern Ireland which voted to remain in the EU during the referendum, has to leave on the scheduled Brexit date — with or without a deal. Not doing so, he says, would undermine faith in democracy.

That stance has raised concerns that a physical border will return and threaten the fragile peace process in Northern Ireland and the economic opportunities it has created. No one really knows what will happen even though political leaders on all sides keep insisting the border will stay open. People are worried about the long-term impact of the potential changes.

Like many businesses, the Carlingford Lough Ferry has received little guidance: Will farmers carrying hay from the south need to declare their goods? Will there be forms? Customs officers with clipboards? And then there's the question of whether the ferry will be allowed to operate at all.

Back in the days of hard borders, trade between North and South was impeded. It took truck drivers hours to get cleared and cross to the other side. Lush rolling hills were marred by guard towers, soldiers and checkpoints. Criss-crossing the border several times a day was challenging.

The inability to no longer move freely is likely to hurt the smallest operators the most. "The economic shock will be so great that there is no way to mitigate against the risk," warned Daniel Donnelly, a spokesman in Northern Ireland for the Federation of Small Businesses.

Even low tariffs in the event of a no-deal could wipe out the profits that small businesses with low margins make, he added. People here just don't see any point in going back to the past. Piloting the ferry across Carlingford Lough, 31-year-old Shane Horner remembered the border checks and troops that were deployed along the border when he was a child. Crossing was slow and intimidating, he said, but "once that stopped it was grand, you could come and go as you pleased."

Today, farmers from the Republic take the new ferry service to sell silage and hay from the lush fields of County Louth to customers north of the border. Wedding parties from the North use it to cross for events in the medieval Carlingford.

It's a bus service on the water — not a stronghold between nations. "There is a cross-community dimension," said O'Sullivan, who remembers meeting some northerners taking the ferry on their first journey across the border. "If there is a hard Brexit, it almost certainly will have an adverse impact."

Irish drivers warned to get paperwork for 'no-deal' Brexit

February 28, 2019

LONDON (AP) — Ireland's deputy prime minister said Thursday that the European Union wants to work with Britain to ensure there is a Brexit deal, as Irish drivers were warned they will need new paperwork to cross the currently invisible border to Northern Ireland if the U.K. leaves the bloc without an agreement.

The Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland says it has issued insurance firms with 1 million application forms for the internationally recognized "Green Card" insurance document. British drivers traveling to Ireland or other EU countries will also need the paperwork — just one of a host of new rules and hurdles citizens will need to negotiate if Britain crashes out of the bloc without a framework for departure terms and future relations.

Currently, auto insurance in any EU country covers the whole bloc. If Britain leaves with a deal, there will be no change until at least the end of 2020. Britain is due to leave the 28-nation bloc on March 29, but so far its Parliament has rejected the government's divorce deal with the EU, raising the prospect of a chaotic "no deal" Brexit.

Governments in EU countries, as well as in Britain, have warned citizens and businesses to prepare for potential disruption to trade and travel as tariffs, customs checks and other barriers are erected between Britain and its biggest trading partner.

But U.K. authorities admitted this week that neither individuals nor businesses are ready for a "no-deal" departure, and "the short time remaining before 29 March 2019 does not allow government to unilaterally mitigate the effects of no deal."

British lawmakers rejected May's deal with the EU last month, largely over a provision to guarantee there are no customs posts or other barriers along the Irish border. The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU to remove the need for checks until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

May wants to revise the deal to reassure opponents that the backstop would only apply temporarily. But EU leaders insist that the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement can't be reopened. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said the EU "wants to work with the U.K. to try to give the reassurance and clarification" it needs on the border issue.

But he said the EU had made it "very clear" that the text of the withdrawal agreement will not be reopened. "What they'll be providing will be an addition, but in a way that doesn't undermine the meaning of that text, which I think is very important from an Irish perspective," Coveney said in Dublin.

May says U.K. lawmakers will get to vote again on her deal — including any amendments she secures — by March 12. If it is rejected, Parliament will then vote on whether to leave the EU without an agreement or seek to postpone Brexit by up to three months.

Any delay would require approval from all 27 remaining EU nations. Austria's leader said Thursday that if Britain seeks an extension to prevent a disorderly exit, Vienna would back it. But Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he wanted to see Britain leave before European Parliament elections in late May.

Kurz said that "the participation of a country that wants to leave the European Union in European Parliament elections would, I think, seem more than absurd." Speaking after meeting Kurz in Vienna, chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said any delay "must serve not to put off the problem but to resolve the problem" in the British Parliament.

"Today, above all we need decisions, much more than extra time," he said.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.

Ireland publishes no-deal Brexit bill it hopes it won't need

February 22, 2019

LONDON (AP) — The Irish government published legislation Friday designed to ease the damage if Britain leaves the European Union next month without a Brexit divorce deal — but said it hoped the law would never be needed.

The Irish government plans to fast-track the bill through Ireland's parliament before the U.K.'s scheduled departure from the bloc on March 29. As a major trading partner of Britain, and the only EU country that shares a land border with the U.K., Ireland faces a huge economic hit if a "no-deal" Brexit introduces tariffs, customs checks and other barriers between Britain and the EU.

Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said the bill would try to "offset the worst effects of a disorderly Brexit." It seeks to support Irish businesses and ensure that citizens can still get health care and pension payments in the U.K.

But Coveney said a no-deal Brexit would be "lose, lose, lose — for the U.K., for the EU and for Ireland." "I hope we never have to use the provisions set out in this piece of legislation. I hope we never have to commence this bill," he said. "Simply put, as a result of a lot of hard work my only desire is see this legislation sit on the shelf."

British Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU struck a Brexit deal late last year laying out the terms of an orderly departure and establishing a long transition period so businesses can trade under existing rules while future trade relations are worked out.

But Britain's Parliament rejected the deal last month and sent May back to the EU seeking changes. EU leaders insist that the legally Brexit binding withdrawal agreement, which took a year and a half to negotiate, can't be reopened.

Still, the two sides are still holding talks, which the U.K. has called "constructive." May is due to meet European Council President Donald Tusk at an EU-Arab summit in Egypt on Sunday, although there is little prospect of a breakthrough.

With Brexit just five weeks away, May is stuck between an intransigent EU and a resistant U.K. Parliament. Three lawmakers from her own Conservative Party quit the party this week over the government's handling of Brexit.

May faces facing another showdown in Parliament next week with British lawmakers eager to wrest control of the Brexit process from the government and halt the slide to a chaotic "no-deal" exit. May must tell Parliament on Tuesday whether she is ready to re-submit her Brexit deal for approval. If not, legislators will get a chance Wednesday to try to change the government's course.

Irish election produces an earthquake as Sinn Fein tops poll

February 10, 2020

DUBLIN (AP) — Ireland braced for weeks of political uncertainty Monday after an earth-shaking election that saw the Irish Republican Army-linked party Sinn Fein — long shunned by its bigger rivals — take the largest share of votes.

In a surge that upended Ireland’s traditional two-party system, the left-wing nationalist party beat both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the centrist parties that have governed Ireland since it won independence from Britain a century ago.

The vote in Saturday's election essentially split three ways, complicating the negotiations on forming a government that lie ahead. Sinn Fein, received 24.5% of the first-preference votes, besting the two long-dominant parties. Fianna Fail received 22.2% of the votes. Fine Gael, the party of incumbent Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, got 20.9%.

“I think it's a mess, to be honest with you," said Pat O'Toole, a public sector worker in Dublin. "I think we're going to be in a situation again where we are not going to be able to form a stable government in this country. I really don't know what's going to happen.”

Sinn Fein’s left-wing proposals for tackling Ireland's housing crisis and creaking healthcare system proved a powerful draw for young voters in a country that is still dealing with aftershocks of the 2008 global financial crisis, which hammered its debt-driven “Celtic Tiger” economy.

Vote counting resumed Monday to fill all the seats in the 160-seat Dail, the lower house of Ireland’s parliament. Ireland uses a proportional-representation system in which voters rank candidates from first to last, with the lower preferences of elected or defeated candidates redistributed among their rivals.

With more than three-quarters of the seats in parliament filled, Sinn Fein had taken 37, Fine Gael 29 and Fianna Fail 27. No party is likely to reach the 80 seats needed for a majority, making some form of coalition inevitable. But forming a stable alliance looks tough.

Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael said before the election that they would not go into a coalition with Sinn Fein because of its links to past violence. Varadkar said Fine Gael’s stance was unchanged. "I say what I mean and I mean what I say," he said Monday.

But as the scale of Sinn Fein’s surge became clear, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: “I’m a democrat.” “I listen to the people. I respect the decision of the people,” he told Irish broadcaster RTE.

Talks among the parties are likely to take weeks, though some hope a new government can be formed by St. Patrick's Day on March 17, when the Irish prime minister traditionally visits the White House. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald suggested her party could try to form a government with the support of independents and smaller parties such as the Social Democrats and Labour.

“We want to talk to anyone who is interested in delivering a program for government, that is about getting to grips with the housing crisis and solving it, getting to grips with the crisis in health and giving families and workers a break and giving a new lease of life to government,” she said.

The IRA was responsible for murders, bombings and other violence for decades during decades of violence known as the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. More than 3,500 people were killed in conflict between forces that sought to reunify Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland and those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the U.K.

Supporters of Sinn Fein point out that it has been more than 20 years since Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement and 15 years since the IRA announced the end of its violent campaign. Sinn Fein already sits in government in Northern Ireland as part of a power-sharing arrangement created by the peace process.

Eoin O'Malley, associate professor of political science at Dublin City University, said the party's past meant little to younger voters without memories of living through the Troubles. He said Sinn Fein had offered the clearest message on social problems in Ireland, which include a growing homelessness crisis, house prices that have risen faster than incomes and a public health system that hasn't kept up with demand.

“It’s a direct analogue to the left-wing populism that you see in Greece and in Spain," O'Malley said. "In many ways, Sinn Fein are offering relatively simple solutions to pretty complex problems. Mary Lou McDonald said she was going to form ‘a people’s government’ as if all the other governments that have been formed in Ireland had no connection with the ordinary people. It is classic populism.”

Fine Gael's third-place showing likely spells the end of the premiership of Varadkar, who has been Taoiseach, or prime minister, since 2017. Ireland's youngest and first openly gay prime minister, Varadkar led Ireland during Britain’s lengthy divorce negotiations with the European Union. The outcome of those talks was crucial to Ireland, the only EU country to share a land border with the U.K.

Many Irish voters think Varadkar and his party handled Brexit well, securing guarantees that people and goods will continue to flow freely between Ireland and the north. But Brexit featured little in an election campaign dominated by domestic problems.

Still, Sinn Fein's triumph could have implications for Ireland and the U.K. The party's struggle for a united Ireland was on the back burner during the election, but the party is calling for a referendum on reunification within five years.

That is not something an Irish government can deliver without the support of Britain and Northern Ireland — highly unlikely in the short term. But Brexit looks likely to nudge Northern Ireland’s economy closer to that of its southern neighbor, and could increase pressure for a vote on unification.

In London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, said the U.K. was “following the results of the Irish election carefully." He insisted that "the close relationship between the U.K. and Ireland will continue regardless of the election result.”

Jill Lawless reported from London.

Irish prime minister seeks new mandate in February election

January 14, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Leo Varadkar sought a fresh mandate to govern Ireland on Tuesday, arguing he's the best person to represent Irish interests in the next phase of Brexit negotiations between the European Union and Britain.

The leader of the Fine Gael Party formally asked President Michael Higgins to dissolve the parliament, the Dáil, and set the election for Feb. 8. Varadkar described it as the ‘’right time" for a vote — given recent agreements on Brexit and power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

“As a nation, we have every reason to be hopeful about the future,'' he said in a Dublin speech. “We've modernized our society — marriage equality, women's rights, real progress in education, welfare and childcare. But, it's not enough. I know it's not enough.”

Though Varadkar framed the timing around future EU negotiations, his administration had been facing potential defeat in a vote of no confidence in Health Minister Simon Harris in the first week of next month. That prospect will now be averted.

The election is likely to revolve around the issues of housing and health care. “People want their government to do much more,'' Varadkar said. “And I want us to do much more.” The contest will be Varadkar's first election as prime minister. He succeeded Enda Kenny as Fine Gael leader in 2017.

Protesters at Irish border highlight Brexit as peace threat

January 26, 2019

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of people assembled near the Irish border to highlight the risks Brexit poses to peace in Northern Ireland. The protesters gathered near Newry in Northern Ireland on Saturday to reject the possibility of a "hard" border with ID checks and customs controls going up between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

Some created a mock border checkpoint where actors dressed as soldiers and customs officers showed what such a protected boundary might look like. There is concern on both sides that a guarded border could jeopardize a hard-won coexistence since a 1998 agreement largely ended decades of sectarian and nationalist violence.

The British and Irish governments don't want a hard border, but the European Union has said it's likely unavoidable if the U.K. leaves the EU without a deal.

Ireland passes BDS bill banning Israel settlement goods

January 25, 2019

Ireland has advanced a bill which will prevent the sale of goods from Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The lower house of the Irish parliament – the Dail – yesterday voted in favor of a bill which will ban the purchase of all goods and services from Israel’s West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. The bill was previously passed through the parliament’s upper house – the Seanad – before proceeding to the lower house and receiving a 78-45 majority in favor, Al Jazeera explained.

The bill – officially known as the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill – still needs to pass several more stages before being signed into Irish law, but it is expected to progress given its broad base of support from Irish opposition parties.

Once approved, the law would see fines of up to €250,000 ($284,000) or five years in jail be handed down for those found guilty of importing or selling any goods or services originating in the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem or West Bank settlements, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Though estimates put the value of settlement-made exports to Ireland at between only $580,000 and $1.1 million annually, the symbolic value of the bill and its potential to influence other European countries to follow suit has been hailed as a victory by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, said the bill is a “great victory for the BDS movement” and vowed that “we will seek to pass similar laws in a number of European countries in the near future”.

Irish politicians also welcomed the move, with Irish Senator Frances Black tweeting: “Ireland will always stand for international law + human rights, & we’re one step closer to making history. Onwards!” She added: “We have now united every opposition party behind this bill, because it is *not* a radical ask: we want to give effect to basic provisions of int [international] law & human rights.”

However Israel has reacted with anger at the bill, summoning the Irish Ambassador to Israel, Alison Kelly, to be reprimanded.

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s office said that “Israel is outraged over the legislation against it in the Dail which is indicative of hypocrisy and anti-Semitism”. It added: “Instead of Ireland condemning Syria for slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians, Turkey for the occupation of northern Cyprus and the terrorist organizations for murdering thousands of Israelis, it attacks Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. What a disgrace.”

Meanwhile Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the vote “an expression of pure hostility on the part of its initiators,” adding: “This is a clear expression of obsessive discrimination that should be rejected with disgust.”

Ireland has been a long-time supporter of the BDS movement. In October, Ireland’s national broadcaster RTÉ announced that it will not sanction any staff members who refuse to travel to Israel for the Eurovision Song Contest, due to be held in Tel Aviv in May. RTÉ’s decision came after the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) called for a boycott of the competition “due to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people”.

Other Irish organisations have also expressed support for BDS, with the Dublin City Council voting in April to back the movement. In March, students at one of the country’s most prestigious universities – Trinity College Dublin – voted to support BDS, meaning the Students Union will support the movement and “comply with the principles of BDS in all union shops, trade, business and other union operations”.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190125-ireland-passes-bds-bill-banning-israel-settlement-goods/.

UK prime minister vows no return to hard border with Ireland

February 05, 2019

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May told business leaders in Northern Ireland Tuesday that she is seeking changes to the Brexit withdrawal agreement but not the total removal of the backstop plan that is the most contentious part of the deal.

May said during a visit to Belfast that the British government retains its commitment to preventing the construction of a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland when Britain leaves the European Union.

The prime minister said she was in Belfast "to affirm my commitment to delivering a Brexit that ensures no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland — which is unshakable." She also emphasized the government's commitment to the Good Friday agreement, largely credited with ending decades of violence known as "the Troubles" when it was signed in 1998.

Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but no withdrawal agreement has been approved because Britain's Parliament has voted down May's plan, in part because of concerns about the difficult border issues.

The situation is complex because Ireland is a member of the EU while Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. The currently wide open border between the two entities will after Brexit become the only land border between the U.K. and the EU.

May plans to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Thursday seeking concessions on border-related issues and will return to Parliament next week with what is expected to be a modified plan.

Her original plan was defeated by more than 200 votes, a loss of historic proportions for her minority government. May is expected to have an uphill fight in Brussels because EU leaders have steadfastly opposed reopening the 585-page withdrawal agreement negotiated over the course of two years.

Ireland to Become World's First Country to Divest From Fossil Fuels

By Lorraine Chow
Nov. 23, 2018

Ireland's landmark Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill passed the Seanad, or upper house, on Thursday, putting the Emerald Isle on track to become the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuel-related funds.

The bill—which requires the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund to sell off about €318 million ($361 million) investments in coal, oil, gas and peat assets over a five year period—now heads to President Michael D. Higgins for signature, where it will likely become law by the end of the year, according to the Irish Times.

Alice-Mary Higgins, an Independent Senator and the president's daughter, was jubilant about the bill's "swift passage" in the Seanad.

President Higgins told Green News in July that Ireland has a role in tackling climate change. He said the bill, first introduced by independent Donegal Deputy Thomas Pringle in 2016, was "greatly" needed and a "testament to cross-party cooperation and support."

"While we are a small nation, we have a huge impact on the most vulnerable citizens in the world. It's morally imperative that we urgently respond to climate change as it's those most vulnerable who cannot afford to wait for us to act accordingly," he added.

The bill's passage is a major step for Ireland, which ranks last among European Union countries in the 2018 Climate Change Performance Index.

Green Party Senator Grace O'Sullivan welcomed the final passage of the bill.

"Ireland can finally hold its head up high on an issue of climate policy, as the first country in the world to put a national divestment strategy into place," O'Sullivan said in a press release. "This bill will help protect us from climate change, will allow us to stand as an example to the world and protect Irish tax payers from massive losses as the world moves to a post-carbon future."

Source: EcoWatch.
Link: https://www.ecowatch.com/ireland-fossil-fuels-divestment-2621293680.html.

Irish PM: Brexit is undermining N. Ireland's peace accord

November 03, 2018

LONDON (AP) — Brexit is undermining Northern Ireland's hard-won peace by creating tensions between Catholic and Protestant communities, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Saturday, even as hopes rose for a solution to the Irish border problem that has deadlocked negotiations.

"Brexit has undermined the Good Friday Agreement" — the 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland — "and it is fraying relationships between Britain and Ireland," Varadkar said.

"Anything that pulls the two communities apart in Northern Ireland undermines the Good Friday Agreement and anything that pulls Britain and Ireland apart undermines that relationship," he told Ireland's RTE radio.

Negotiations between Britain and the European Union over Britain's departure from the bloc have stalled over the issue of the border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland. Both sides agree there must be no customs posts or other barriers that could disrupt businesses and residents or undermine Northern Ireland's peace. But they haven't agreed on how to guarantee that — and Britain is due to leave the bloc on March 29.

The border impasse has heightened fears that the U.K. might crash out of the EU without a deal on divorce terms and future relations, leading to chaos at ports and economic turmoil. The EU has proposed keeping Northern Ireland inside a customs union with the bloc to remove the need for border checks on the island.

But Britain's Conservative government and its Northern Irish ally, the Democratic Unionist Party, won't accept that because it would mean customs and regulatory checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

Britain wants instead to keep the whole U.K. in an EU customs union, but only temporarily. Although there has been no outward sign of a Brexit breakthrough, Irish and British officials say they are increasingly optimistic that a solution can be found.

After meeting Friday with Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney in Dublin, British Prime Minister Theresa May's deputy David Lidington said negotiators were "very close" to an agreement. Coveney agreed there had been "a lot of progress."

"I think it is possible to get a deal in November," he said.

Irish border issued entangled with questions of identity

October 15, 2018

CARRICKCARNAN, Ireland (AP) — The land around the small Irish town of Carrickcarnan is the kind of place where Britain's plan to leave the European Union runs right into a wall — an invisible one that's proving inordinately difficult to overcome.

Somehow, a border of sorts will have to be drawn between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and EU member Ireland to allow customs control over goods, produce and livestock once the U.K. has fully left the bloc.

That means the largely unpoliced and invisible Irish land border will become the boundary between the EU and the U.K. — raising vexing questions about trade and customs checks. Of all the thorny issues in Brexit negotiations, this has been the toughest, because the challenge of keeping trade running smoothly is deeply entangled with questions of identity: what it means to be from Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant communities remain divided decades after 30 years of conflict claimed around 3,700 lives. The peace agreement signed in 1998 provides people with the freedom to identify as Irish or British, or both. It helped dismantle Northern Ireland's once heavily-policed and militarized border with Ireland — and the last thing people want now is a new one.

"The peace process took identity and borders out of politics. Brexit has put them slap bang back into the middle again," lamented Northern Ireland business and strategy adviser Conor Houston. Talks between EU leaders and British Prime Minister Theresa May ran aground this week over the Irish border issue, and are trying to find ways forward ahead of a summit starting Wednesday.

The Northern Ireland-Ireland border zig-zags all over the map. It cuts around properties, veers over roads and dodges villages. People cross it when they leave home to visit their doctor or go shopping. It's mostly only visible when the speed signs change from kilometers to miles.

The dividing line stretches for 500 kilometers (312 miles) and is dotted with over 250 official road crossings, more than on Europe's entire eastern flank. A fine example of the Brexit conundrum is the Jonesborough Parish Church. A padlock secures the gate of this run-down Protestant place of worship in the U.K. An Irish flag flies in the cemetery next door, over the border. In the parking lot, a weather-beaten sign reads: "No EU Frontier in Ireland."

Not so long ago, 12 fortified watchtowers, 4 helicopter bases, a handful of army barracks and police stations dotted the countryside within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius. Border posts stood for authority and made easy targets for paramilitaries. So police came to guard the customs officers. Then the army was called in to protect the police.

Some think that modern technology — drones and cameras — can defeat old enmities. Others suspect they would be used for target practice. "For some, that will be seen as surveillance and a throwback to the troubles. Then you're going to have to decide how to protect those drones and cameras," said Peter Sheridan, a retired senior police officer with 32 years' experience in dealing with organized crime.

Still, Sheridan says politicians should not cave in to threats. "We cannot be pressured into decisions by those who wield the biggest stick," he said. About 65 kilometers (40 miles) to the north, in Northern Ireland's capital of Belfast, the barriers are far more visible. In many places, neighborhoods are still separated by high, graffiti-daubed "peace walls." Schools are mostly segregated.

The territory has the U.K.'s highest poverty, suicide and unemployment rates — and there are fears that Brexit might make things worse. "The tensions just can't be underestimated and it's absolutely pervasive" in parts of Belfast, said Angila Chada from Springboard, a group working with unemployed Protestant and Catholic young people.

It's not all bad news. Trade — mostly in the agricultural and food sectors — has doubled in the last 20 years and Northern Ireland's economy has steadily improved. Still, even in the best Brexit scenario, Aodhan Connolly of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium notes there will be "a substantial new administrative burden."

More checks on goods crossing the border will mean more paperwork. That means delays, and delays create costs. "There is very little wiggle room for business. These costs will get passed onto the consumer," Connolly told reporters during a visit to Northern Ireland organized by the Irish government. "It's literally death by a thousand cuts. The food prices will go up, the fuel will go up, the shirt on your back."

Creating a "hard border" — something all parties want to avoid — would make things worse. On average, commercial vehicles cross the border 13,000 times each day. In the future, around 3,000 loads a day carrying beef, lamb, pork, poultry, eggs or dairy products might have to be stopped. Each check would take about 10 minutes, said Seamus Leheny from Freight Transport Association.

"We would have paralysis here on the border," he said. Whether customs and other checks could be done away from the border — at airports, ports, factories or markets — remains to be seen. In coming weeks, EU officials and the British and Irish governments must come up with a policy which guarantees that goods can be controlled without stifling the economy. Above all, the Brexit Irish border plan must respect the unique identities of Northern Ireland's people and not inflame tensions, as many fear it might.

UK-EU Brexit deal hamstrung by Irish border issue

October 15, 2018

LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Britain and the European Union were still both refusing to blink Monday over the question of the Irish border in Brexit talks — only two days ahead of a summit once seen as the moment when they would have to reach deal on Britain's divorce from the bloc.

A flurry of diplomatic meetings over the weekend had raised hopes for a Brexit agreement, but they were derailed by the issue that has dogged the talks for months — how to ensure that no hard border is created between the EU's Ireland and Britain's Northern Ireland once Brexit happens on March 29.

The EU has proposed a "backstop" solution that would keep Northern Ireland in a customs union to avoid a hard border between it and Ireland if no other solution can be found. But British Prime Minister Theresa May says that would create "a border in the Irish Sea" and she won't accept it.

Britain is proposing instead to keep all of the U.K. in a customs union with the bloc — but only temporarily. Tying Britain to the EU on customs would limit the U.K.'s power to strike new trade deals around the world — a key goal of those who voted to leave the EU.

"I need to be able to look the British people in the eye and say this 'backstop' is a temporary solution," May told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Monday. Insisting that a Brexit divorce deal was "achievable," May said the border dispute should not "derail the prospects of a good deal and leave us with the no-deal outcome that no one wants."

"I do not believe the EU and the UK are far apart," she said. May is under intense pressure from her Conservative Party and its parliamentary allies not to give any more ground in Brexit negotiations.

May's political allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party, stand ready to scuttle a Brexit deal over the Irish border issue. DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said "it is probably inevitable that we will end up with a no-deal scenario" over Brexit.

The Irish border is an acutely sensitive issue, with some fearing any return to customs checks and other controls could revive tensions between Northern Ireland's Irish Catholic community and its British Protestant one. More than 3,700 people were killed in Northern Ireland amid 30 years of violence between the two groups and Britain, which ended with a 1998 peace deal.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the delays were frustrating, and suggested that May was reneging on part of Britain's commitment, made in December, to ensure that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland.

He said that a backstop "cannot be time-limited." "Nobody wants to ever trigger the backstop, but it needs to be there as an insurance mechanism to calm nerves that we're not going to see physical border infrastructure re-emerging," Coveney said.

The border impasse makes it is almost impossible that EU leaders will reach a Brexit deal at their summit, which begins Wednesday. The British and EU parliaments need to approve any deal, a process that could take months ahead of Britain's official exit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, perhaps the strongest voice in the EU, insisted Monday that May should not count on the EU to blink first for fear of losing valuable business. Merkel said Germany wants an orderly departure of Britain from the bloc "but not at any price."

EU negotiators and leaders have said that Britain should not seek to cherry-pick the best parts of staying in the EU without the costs and responsibilities. "We must not allow our single market, which is really our competitive advantage, to be destroyed by such a withdrawal," Merkel said told Germany's main exporters' association. "And if it doesn't work out this week, we must continue negotiating, that is clear — but time is pressing."

If Britain leaves the EU without an agreement on future relations, there could be chaos — tariffs would go up on trade, airlines could no longer have permits to fly between the two regions, and freight could be lined up for miles at border crossings as customs checks are restored overnight.

The EU has said it is willing to call an extra meeting in November if needed to seal a deal, but only if there was decisive progress this week. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Monday that "I figure November or December is the best opportunity for a deal."

"This is a dynamic situation," he said. As the chances of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal rise, so do calls from pro-EU campaigners in Britain for a new referendum — dubbed a "People's Vote" — on whether to accept a divorce deal or stay in the bloc.

Several opposition lawmakers, and even a few Conservatives, stood in Parliament Monday to call for a new Brexit referendum. "We had a people's vote," May replied. "It was called the referendum and the people voted to leave."

Lawless reported from London. Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

Italy: Catholic church, Albania, Ireland to take migrants

August 25, 2018

ROME (AP) — Catholic bishops, tiny Albania and Ireland agreed to take the 140 migrants blocked aboard an Italian coast guard vessel, Premier Giuseppe Conte said Saturday, announcing the end of 10-day standoff over the asylum-seekers but making clear an angry Italy could avenge a perceived lack of overall European Union solidarity by refusing to approve the bloc's next multi-year budget.

"Italy must take note that the 'spirit of solidarity is struggling to translate into concrete acts," Conte said in a statement. Conte referred to declarations made at an EU summit in late June promising to help Italy and other Mediterranean countries deal with the burden of migrants rescued from human traffickers' unseaworthy boats.

In his role as head of a nearly three-month-old populist coalition government, Conte said Italy under current conditions "doesn't consider it possible to express adhesion to a proposed budget that underpins a policy so incoherent on the social level."

Earlier in the week, some in the government threatened to withhold nearly 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in contributions to the EU if member nations didn't volunteer to take the last group of rescued migrants reaching Italy. Brussels sharply reminded Italy it was legally obliged to pay.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who leads the anti-migrant League party, refused to let the migrants off the coast guard vessel Diciotti until other EU nations pledged to take the asylum-seekers, most of them young men from Eritrea.

Just before Conte announced the drama's resolution, Salvini told party supporters at a rally in northern Italy that a Sicily-based prosecutor, Luigi Patronaggio, had put him under investigation for suspected abduction for refusing to let the migrants disembark.

If the prosecutor "wants to interrogate me or even arrest me because I defend the borders and security of my country, I'm proud of it," Salvini tweeted. Many of his supporters blame migrants for crime.

Earlier in the week, the government's rights office for detained persons concluded this week that the migrants were being unjustly held by the government. Salvini took credit for convincing bishops to take many of the migrants. The bishops agreed to "open up their doors, heart and wallet," he told the rally.

Fifty others of the 190 people rescued at sea on Aug. 16 by the Italian coast guard were previously allowed off the ship, including all the minors and ailing adults. A few hours before Conte's announcement, Italian Red Cross ambulances waiting at dockside took away six ill men, suspected of having tuberculosis, pneumonia or other infections, and seven of the 11 women who were still aboard.

Authorities had said the women recounted how they had been raped while in Libya for months, awaiting the opportunity to leave in migrant smugglers' boats. Four other women chose not to leave the ship because their husbands were blocked aboard.

The standoff had prompted an impassioned appeal at the height of the standoff Saturday by the U.N. refugee agency's chief, who asked Italy to let the migrants disembark and urged EU countries to take responsibility for the asylum-seekers.

In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said it's time to end a "race to the bottom on who can take the least responsibility for people rescued at sea." He urged European countries "to do the right thing and offer places of asylum for people rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in their time of need."

Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi expressed appreciation for Albania's "sign of great solidarity and friendship," his ministry said. Albania, which isn't in the European Union, saw thousands of its citizens flee to Italy across the Adriatic Sea aboard dramatically overcrowded rickety ferries and fishing boats in hopes of a better life in the 1990s.

Meanwhile, Sicily-based prosecutors took their investigation of the migrant standoff to Rome. Prosecutor Patronaggio left without speaking to reporters after questioning two Interior Ministry officials at the Italian capital's prosecutors' office, the Italian news agency ANSA said.

Prosecutors would have to seek permission from a special panel to question Salvini. As a lawmaker, Salvini also holds immunity from prosecution that could only be lifted by fellow lawmakers. Italian Red Cross official Stefano Principato in Catania told reporters that Italy's health minister had ordered an inspection of sanitary conditions for the migrants, who have been sleeping on the ship's deck and coping with a baking sun and limited toilet facilities.

Doctors have said many of the migrants on the ship have scabies but "more than a health emergency, it would be better to speak of a psychological emergency," Principato said.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Wildfire uncovers hidden World War II-era landmark

August 06, 2018

BRAY HEAD, Ireland (AP) — A wildfire in Ireland has uncovered a World War II-era landmark that was hidden for years by undergrowth. An Irish police air unit spotted the word Eire, which means Ireland, while surveying the damage caused by a fire on Bray Head. More than 80 such signs were created during the war to alert pilots that they were flying over a neutral country.

The Irish Air Corps says the Bray Head sign was No. 8. Volunteers have restored some of the signs that were in plain view.

Ireland to discuss bill banning Israel settlement produce

June 28, 2018

Ireland’s parliament will discuss a bill promoting a ban on Israeli settlement goods next month, after a postponement in January, reported Haaretz.

In a tweet posted yesterday, Irish Senator Frances Black announced “on July 11th, my bill to ban illegal #SettlementGoods is in the Seanad”.

Black added: “We’re close to a historic move for justice in #Palestine, but I need your help! Plz take 2m to ask your TDs & Senators to support the bill.”

The senator also posted a video urging Irish citizens to tell their lawmakers to back the initiative to boycott produce made in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Haaretz notes that “the discussion at the Irish senate regarding the bill was postponed in January after Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel, Alison Kelly, was summoned for a talk at the Foreign Ministry to clarify the legislative initiative at the demand of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Read: Ireland’s book of condolence for Palestinians killed in Gaza blocked by pro-Israel groups

Kelly told Netanyahu that the Irish government actually opposed the bill, and subsequently informed Rodica Radian-Gordon, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Western Europe, “that the bill was not a Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement-linked initiative”.

At the time, slamming the bill, Netanyahu said its sole purpose was to “support the BDS movement and hurt the State of Israel”. The Prime Minister’s Office stated that the bill “backed those who wish to boycott Israel and completely opposes the guiding principles of free trade and justice”.

As recalled by Haaretz, “a group of Israeli activists, among whom were former Knesset members, lawyers, former ambassadors, artists and academics, penned a letter asking Irish lawmakers to support the bill” in January.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180628-ireland-to-discuss-bill-banning-israel-settlement-produce/.

Some Irish Catholics worried, dismayed after abortion vote

May 27, 2018

DUBLIN (AP) — Irish Catholics attending Sunday Mass were disappointed with the result of a referendum in which voters opted to legalize abortion and think it reflects the weakening of the Church — a situation that was unthinkable in Ireland a generation ago.

There was no mention of the referendum during the sermon at St. Mary's Pro Cathedral, but it was weighing heavily on the minds of some worshipers as they left the Mass in central Dublin. Ireland voted by a roughly two-to-one margin Friday to end a constitutional ban on abortion, and parliament is expected to approve a more liberal set of laws governing the termination of pregnancies.

Some worshipers said the overwhelming victory of abortion rights activists seeking the repeal of the Eighth Amendment of the constitution reflects a weakening of the Catholic Church's historic influence and fills them with dread for Ireland's future.

"I think the 'yes' vote was an anti-Church vote," said Annemarie McCarrick, referring to the "yes" vote in favor of ending the constitutional ban. The 52-year-old lecturer said on the cathedral steps that a series of sex abuse scandals had undermined the influence of the Church in Ireland. She said the Church had in recent weeks taken a "quiet" stand against repeal, but hadn't been able to sway people.

"I am religious but the Church has definitely lost influence here because of the scandals," she said. "The people will not take direction from the Church anymore. It's hard for the Church to have credibility."

Recent census figures show a small decline in the number of Catholics in Ireland, but it remains by far the dominant religion. Frank Gaynor, a 75-year-old retiree, said after the Mass that he never imagined the vote in favor of abortion rights would be so lopsided.

He said he was troubled by the way the "yes" campaign used the case of Savita Halappanavar, a 31-year-old dentist who died of sepsis during a prolonged miscarriage after being denied an abortion in Galway in 2012, to drum up support for repeal.

"I was disappointed to see the tragic death of Savita being shamelessly used as an excuse for introducing abortion into a country," he said. "That was a sepsis issue that was mishandled. Not an Eighth Amendment issue."

He felt alienated by the campaign: "It's extraordinary the way the campaign focused so much on 'me, me, me,' the rights of the mother, and very little mention of the unborn child. That was sidelined."

With the vote decided, attention is turning to Ireland's parliament, which will make new laws to govern abortions. The referendum vote ended a harsh anti-abortion regime enacted in 1983 that required doctors to regard the rights of a fetus, from the moment of conception, as equal to the rights of the mother.

In practice, it meant Irish women had to travel abroad for terminations. The nationwide rejection of the amendment represented a growing tolerance on social issues in the traditionally Roman Catholic country.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed the vote as bringing a new era to Ireland. He said it will be remembered as "the day Ireland stepped out from under the last of our shadows and into the light. The day we came of age as a country. The day we took our place among the nations of the world."

His government will propose that abortions be permissible in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It isn't yet clear what strategy abortion opponents will use in parliament in light of the unexpectedly large vote in favor of repeal. Some opposition figures have indicated they won't block legislation because they must respect the public will.

The decisive outcome of the landmark referendum was cast as a historic victory for women's rights. Exit polls indicated that the repeal was endorsed in urban and rural areas alike, with strong support from both men and women.

Backing for repeal was highest among young voters, including many who returned from jobs or universities in continental Europe to vote, but was also high among every age group except those 65 or older.

Since 1983, the Eighth Amendment had forced women seeking to terminate pregnancies to go abroad for abortions, bear children conceived through rape or incest, or take risky illegal measures at home.