MORE THAN HALF of people say they fear a return to violence if customs checkpoints are brought back to the border with Northern Ireland after Brexit.

A deal to avoid a hard border was expected to be announced this afternoon. London was expected to concede that there would be no “regulatory divergence” relating to the single market and customs union between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

However, no deal was reached in the end.

The DUP said it wouldn’t accept Northern Ireland having a different deal to the rest of the UK.

Some 57% of people said they fear violence would return if customs checkpoints came back after Brexit.

The figures come from a poll for TheJournal.ie and RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live undertaken by Amárach Research.

It asked 1,000 Irish adults, “Do you fear a return to violence if customs checkpoints return to the border with Northern Ireland after Brexit?” The results were:

• Yes 57%
• No 30%
• Don’t know 13%

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was “surprised and disappointed” that the British Government did not conclude what was agreed earlier.

British Prime Minister Theresa May asked for more time after the DUP said they wouldn’t support the agreement.

The British Prime Minister said the negotiations would reconvene before the end of the week: “I am also confident we will reach an agreement”.

Read: Leo’s ‘surprise and disappointment’ as no deal reached on the question of the Irish border>