The UK government Brexit "non-paper" details leaked to RTÉ News amount to a political non-runner.
They include a plan to create a string of customs installations in close proximity to the border.
Any Irish administration that would acquiesce to such proposals being included in a UK/EU Brexit Agreement would effectively be signing its own political death warrant.
Indeed an Irish Government that couldn't persuade fellow EU members to reject such measures might quickly run out of road.
During the 2016 Brexit Referendum campaign the potential downsides for the next door neighbours to the west of Scotland did not feature.
The dominant force in the new British government, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his trusted advisor, Dominic Cummings, show very little interest in how the UK's exit from the European Union might undermine relationships on the island of Ireland.
But the customs infrastructure plans, outlined in the so-called "non-paper", including GPS technology to track vehicles in the border zone, are crude. They risk causing immediate and lasting damage to the DUP, the only main Northern Ireland party that campaigned in support of Brexit.
It is difficult to see how such plans could fit in with the DUP's often stated aim of achieving "a sensible Brexit".
The "non-paper" proposals would damage the island of Ireland economy that emerged thanks to the 1993 EU Single Market initiative and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
They could undermine the free-flowing movement of people and business that is now the norm in post Troubles Ireland. There would be negative economic consequences of both sides of a very visible form of new border.
Many individuals who availed of the Irish, British or both citizenship clause in the Good Friday Agreement could feel cheated. The provisions would run the risk of stirring up the resentment and worse that the Police Service of Northern Ireland has warned about in some of its analysis about the possible negative consequences of Brexit.
The story amounts to a scoop, another one, by RTÉ's Europe Editor, Tony Connelly. The provider or providers of the information will know the circumstances.
Sometimes smoke bombs or stink bombs are deliberately used to influence action and reaction. Sometimes coincidence or the absence of a clear-cut motive have a place in the chain of events, great and small.
The leak has certainly created a considerable stir. At local level in Northern Ireland, where an effort was being prepared to explore the possibility of restoring power-sharing, suspicions have now been reactivated. The odds of the DUP's Arlene Foster and Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill agreeing to take a risk together, have receded.
In the UK, Boris Johnson is likely to be badgered for his views about the so called non-paper. He will be pushed to state if he really thinks such controversial proposals might get EU support.
The story has increased the temperature in what is a very fraught Brexit saga. It is a dramatic twist. And there will be more. Including more non-runners.
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