Dan O'Brien: 'Ireland would suffer most from a no-deal Brexit - and backing down on the backstop could rule it out'

If there is a no-deal Brexit, Ireland is very likely to suffer more than the UK economically, given its much greater dependence on trade, both with the UK and with the continent that moves through the British ‘land bridge’. Photo: PA

Dan O'Brien

Last week this column concluded with the question of what the Irish Government might be facing today if the EU and the UK had exhausted all means of avoiding the most disastrous of Brexit outcomes - a no-deal exit. As the brinkmanship continues, and focus is now on an extension of the UK's EU membership beyond March 29, the choice of backing down on the backstop as the only way to prevent the worst has not yet arisen.

It may not arise over the coming days if all 28 countries involved agree to a British membership extension.