A new group of people from all sectors – business, community, farming, and individuals, calling themselves “Border Communities Against Brexit” have come together out of concern that the North’s remain vote in the recent Brexit referendum, will not be respected.
Spokesperson for the Fermanagh branch of the group, Fr. Joe McVeigh said:
“In June, the people of the North of Ireland voted to remain within the European Union. It makes absolutely no sense to have one part of Ireland operating within the EU and another outside it. However, the British Conservative Government insists that it will impose Brexit on the North of Ireland against the democratic wishes of the majority of people living here.
Brexit will have a devastating impact on border communities like ours and that is why we are demanding the British and Irish Governments respect the North’s remain vote. With the end of EU subsidies, farmers will suffer a dramatic loss of income, people’s access to the nearest medical care or ambulance service may be disrupted and opportunities will be lost for students as Northern colleges will no longer have access EU research funding. Not to mention the damage to trade and investment, the end of EU economic support for peace-building and community projects and the already evident currency fluctuations.
Fr. McVeigh, a devoted community activist, continued:
“No one who lives in Fermanagh wants to see any of this. We do not want any barriers or borders on the island of Ireland. For this reason, border communities are mobilising for a major ‘Day of Action’ on Saturday 8th October against any strengthening or reinforcement of the border. There are two demonstrations in Fermanagh – one at the Belcoo/Blacklion border and one at Aghalane Bridge, both at 3pm.
We would encourage as many people as possible, including representatives from all political parties, to take part in this event to oppose the return of a hard border, to stand up for the right of the people in the North to remain within the EU, and for the votes of the people of Fermanagh to be respected.”
This campaign was launched by Fr Joe McVeigh at Aghalane Bridge on the Fermanagh/Cavan border. There will be a Day of Action along the border on Saturday 8 October.
pissing in the wind,time to respect democracy instead of scaremongering everything will be fine.
Sorry Billy but its obvious the Brexit vote didn’t really apply to NI. All the Brexit campaigners very rarely mentioned NI. So NI is the problem child again for them.
With FF wanting to move north now, times are changing indeed. NI is not an integral part of the UK, is a colony that Britain will gladly give up when a democratic vote has taken place.
We are living in interesting times. The recent Ipsos Mori Poll of 1000 people in the north of Ireland is oft quoted with authority and decorum. We are constantly reminded that 74% of voters “would vote” for the Union and when ‘don’t knows’ are excluded, 61% of people are opposed to holding a plebiscite about the border.
Other media sources state:
“The BBC poll shows a negligible increase in support for a united Ireland despite the Brexit vote… As such, the poll could be one of the most stabilising influences on Stormont after a summer of uncertainty which followed the immediate post-Brexit hysteria…”
It would appear that political institutions need all the stabilising influences available given the loss of millions of pounds in the NAMA imbroglio as Irish voters struggle with costs associated with the installation of water meters and property taxes. Anti-water charge protesters were given speedy jail sentences while others may get, one, two or possibly more Tribunals of Inquiry.
It is evident that the work of An Coimisiún na Teorainne 1924 remains a work in progress.
What is being forgotten is that I would assume it is mostly unionists who voted for Brexit, given that it was Arlene and Wee Sammy’s mantra. They are the ones who want hard borders after all and they probably don’t care too much if no EC money flows in for education and research either .They’ve never been too interested in Scientific research, for one example. That kind of thing only makes people think too much.How do you imagine they came up with all that tomfoolery about Evolution and String Theory, eh?If they had their way nobody would have heard of that mad bugger Einstein ; all that tosh about the earth being billions of years old and that nonsense about carbon-dating..That stuff is hardly normal at all .The next thing they’ll be telling us is that King Billy didn’t ride a white horse and was endorsed by the Pope!!! Peace -building ?!!! Don’t make me choke! They never wanted any of that oul’ peace. It put so many of them out of jobs in the security forces and they fought tooth and nail against implementing any part of it. No ….don’t expect any support from unionist politicians on that score .They expect the UK government to pick up any slack lost from the EU connection ….the dear help their poor deluded wee heads when the penny finally drops and they find out what “tighten your belt “really means.
lets lay the blame if theres a hard border where it lies immigrants.maybe may n co are getting laws in place before pulling the plug so theres no reason for them to want to come.the campaign would be better served getting behind this and educating people of the dangers of uncontrolled immigration.lorries freight ect can mostly be done on line now so no real call for a border.
Pause for thought, again, a chara, when it comes to immigration. Forbes Media has recently settled a defamation suit in relation to one resident of Saudi Arabia, stated to be worth, $17.7 billion.
truth is hardly defamation,
Fr Mc Veigh is described above as a “devoted community activist “.Does this refer to his pastoral duties in Fermanagh or his outreach activity for Sinn Fein?I’m sure his Parish priest would be interested to know!
It makes sense for the North to remain in the EU on an all island basis, that’s obviously what the majority voted for. I don’t see how Britain can control immigration when immigrants can simply travel to the Republic, onwards to the North, and then onto Britain itself. There will either have to be a hard border (which isn’t going to happen, given the border is 99% Nationalist) or people travelling over to Britain from the North must show their passports. If there is any attempt to ask for our passports when going down to the South I will be taking Danny Morrisons stance and refusing to show my passport. This is Ireland.
Obviously this shows up the foolishness of partition. I don’t take seriously any polls from the bias Pro-Unionist media. Those polls are used to stop any debate about Irish Unity because if there was a genuine debate, the great economic and social price of partition will come to the fore. What is left completely off the radar is the reality that the Northern state is an economic basket case and a social disaster. I was listening to Nolan the other day and everyone (apart from a few callers) were extremely anti-Irish Unity and Pro-Unionist. There was no balanced debate at all, there wasn’t even a glimpse at the facts. It’s all a propaganda exercise, basically.
Brexit should (and long term, more likely will) be grounds for a border poll. Brexit really has changed everything, in both the UK and Ireland. There’s even a question mark over the very existence of the UK.
immigrants can simply travel to the republic,onwards to the north,and then onto britain itself.
thats why they are drawing new laws up before brexiting,if the new system is done right immigrants wont have any reason to come there will be nothing for them.in the south they will be able to claim benefits,get free houses,free schools,hospitals ect,so they will stay there,why would they not.so no call for a hard border.
Brexit is illegal and hypocritical ….if the Republic decided upon a UI not regarding a referendum in the North there would be murder…but if a bunch of mid Englanders vote out and everyone else suffers …they call that democracy…Now everyone knows what british “democracy” really is about….BS
Is there a penny here that’s refusing to drop???