British Prime Minister, Theresa May, said Britain would not want to return to border controls in Northern Ireland.
An official statement in London said that May made the declaration on Monday on her first visit to the British province, following United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union.
May met the province’s leader, Arlene Foster, who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU, and Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander, who campaigned to remain.
“We had a common travel area between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland many years before either country was a member of the European Union.
“Nobody wants to return to the borders of the past,’’ she said, adding that her statement was in relation to the freedom of movement that had existed between the countries since 1920s.
“What we want to do is to find a way through this that is going to work.
“A way that will deliver a practical solution for everybody to ensure that we come out of this with a deal which is in the best interests of the whole of the United Kingdom.’’
Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU, with 56 per cent voting ‘Remain’, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom’s 52-48 per cent result in favour of leaving.
The border issue has arisen because those in favour of leaving the EU were adamant that Britain must be able to control its borders and hence immigration more closely watched.
They also insisted that any new arrangements must be agreed by all EU member-states.
McGuinness, who has demanded a referendum to split Northern Ireland from United Kingdom so it can remain in the EU, said he had a frank exchange with May emphasising the wishes of Northern Irish voters.
“I speak for the people of the North, who are Unionists and Nationalists, and have made it clear that they see their future in Europe.
“There is no good news whatsoever in Brexit for anybody in the North,” he said.
Leaders south of the border have been seeking support across the EU to preserve freedom of movement and goods across the island, but acknowledged that controls at Northern Irish ports and airports may be required.
Foster, who is the leader of Northern Ireland’s largest pro-British party, told May that there must be no internal borders within the United Kingdom and that the prime minister had responded positively to that.
She said concerns had been raised about the status of 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of fighting between Catholic nationalists seeking a united Ireland and Protestant unionists, wanting to keep Northern Ireland British.
Over 3,600 died in the conflict. (Reuters/NAN)