The Irish border has always been a problem for the EU regarding trade control.
Sticking plaster solutions have never worked, so hence the current shenanigans.
A ‘soft’ Irish border was a good earner for smugglers in the past and I first realised the true extent of it’s illicit use many years ago when my employer bought out another company.
I discovered during the process that some scams were also being operated by bona fide companies, quite successfully too!
So I suspect that perhaps the EU concern is more to protect their trade than the peace process.
https://magill.ie/archive/smuggling-and-pig-carousel
