Northern Ireland dominated Brexit negotiations for years and remains a highly contentious element of EU-UK relations. The nature of the UK’s departure from the EU means the issue will not go away any time soon.

Arlene Foster said she would step down as party leader in May and as first minister in June. The announcement comes after her party pushed to oust her over her Brexit management.

Foster stepping down has the potential to trigger a snap election. The province's power-sharing executive is at risk of falling apart.

The British government has urged the EU to rethink the part of the Brexit deal that governs trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But the European Commission has refused such requests in the past.

The UK has given Brussels ten days to respond to its demands over customs checkpoints in the Irish Sea. The UK's Brexit minister has told the EU to rethink the terms of its trade accord.

Less than a year since the EU and UK struck a post-Brexit deal, the sides are apparently preparing for a trade war. Tensions over the Northern Ireland Protocol have pushed things to the brink.

The measures could halve customs paperwork and checks on meat, dairy and other food products coming to Northern Ireland.

Britain's Brexit Minister David Frost has reacted to proposed EU concessions to ease bottlenecks affecting the trade in goods to Northern Ireland from the UK mainland.

Northern Ireland's economy has been sluggish for years, with a quality of life that's lower than the rest of the United Kingdom. That's why many young people are leaving.

Just over a year after Brexit became a practical reality, the Northern Ireland Assembly is in crisis after its First Minister resigned in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit deal. Ireland's Europe Minister Thomas Byrne tells FRANCE 24 the departure of Paul Givan "has caused deep difficulties within the government system in Northern Ireland", and that the situation is "very very worrying".

Northern Ireland voters go to the polls today (May 5) in what could be the most important election in a generation. They will elect the 90 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, from which a power-sharing executive should be formed. These institutions were created by the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. According to opinion polls, Sinn Fein - representing mostly people of Catholic and Irish background - could become the largest party for the first time.

Is it a sign that Northern Ireland is ready to overcome old divides, or of new troubles ahead? For the first time ever, Unionists could find themselves in the minority when ballots are counted in regional assembly elections. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the DUP would still share power with Sinn Fein, who could trigger a referendum on a united Ireland.