Irish Voters, and What ‘Brexit’ Might Mean for Them

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Prime Minister Enda Kenny of Ireland (center) during a pro-Europe event in London last month.Credit Daniel Leal-Olivas/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Because of Ireland and Britain’s proximity and historical ties, Irish citizens can vote in British general elections, including in the referendum on European Union membership on Thursday.

Like all citizens of countries that are members of the European Union, the Irish have the right to live and work in Britain. But free movement between the two countries dates to the 1920s, when Ireland gained independence.

The countries’ special relationship has been hammered out, in pieces, over the years. Since longstanding agreements like the right of Irish citizens to live and vote in Britain predate the existence of the 28-member bloc, such rights seem likely to survive regardless of whether Britain votes to leave.

But “likely” does not mean”inevitable.” And as the Irish government acknowledges, a British vote to leave the bloc could throw the terms of many longstanding trade and travel agreements into flux.

Ireland’s prime minister, Enda Kenny, has made clear that his government opposes a British departure from the union, a process commonly referred to as “Brexit.”

He has suggested that Britain’s departure would require new negotiations that could affect trade, and he has expressed particular concern over the consequences the vote could have on the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland.

Military checkpoints were once in place at the border, but as the relationship between the two has warmed over the past two decades, such controls have virtually disappeared.

Some form of customs controls and border checks would most likely be put in place on the island if Britain voted to leave, Mr. Kenny said in a recent speech. But it is not clear what that might entail.

“What is not easy to quantify and mitigate,” Mr. Kenny wrote this month in The Guardian, “is the psychological effect of a hardening border on the island.”