A NEW UK in a Changing Europe report has sparked a new round of scaremongering with its finding that Irish people fear a return to political violence should Brexit result in a “hard border” between north and south.

There might be some dissident republican groups in Ireland who would be prepared to exploit public anger over border posts to launch a bombing campaign, though overwhelmingly republicans are committed to the peace process.

What this hypothesis ignores is that Theresa May’s government is not threatening to impose physical border controls between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Nor would any sane British or Irish government be likely to present dissident republicans with a new set of popular targets that might rescue them from obscurity.