Official count of Border crossings under w ay

GOVERNMENT officials from Dublin and Belfast are working together to definitively map out for the first time the number of Border crossings on the island, it can be revealed.

Documents released under Freedom of Information show the exercise was agreed last year between the Department of Transport and the North’s Department of Infrastructure.

Minutes of a September meeting show that Transport Infrastructure Ireland agreed to help with a “Northern Ireland request in relation to agreeing the number of border road crossings”.

The Department of Infrastructure has confirmed it requested cross-border co-operation to firmly establish all crossings on the 500km frontier. The findings are expected in the coming months.

It is estimated there are around 275 road crossings across the EU’s only land border with the UK – but the exact figure has never been officially established.

There are only 137 crossings along the entire border between the whole of the EU and all of the countries to the east of the bloc.