Mairead McGuinness, MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, led a group of influential members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on a series of meetings with farming, business and community groups both in Northern Ireland and the Republic on Thursday.
Following the visits, McGuinness stated that the group now has first-hand knowledge of the specific challenges that Brexit poses for the island as a whole.
“Seeing is believing and the invisibility of the border today is something which must be maintained post-Brexit,” McGuinness said.
The MEPs saw with their own eyes how impossible and undesirable it would be to see a hard border re-established between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. They also understand how damaging this would be to peace, to security, to trade and to communities.
She said this is vital given the role the European Parliament has in negotiating the shape of the final deal to emerge between the EU and the UK.
Members of the group included: Elmar Brok MEP (Germany), European Parliament Sherpa for Brexit negotiations/Chair of EPP UK Advisory Working Group; Esteban Gonzalez Pons MEP (Spain), EPP Group Vice-Chair, EPP Group Spokesman on Brexit; and Esther de Lange MEP (the Netherlands), EPP Group Vice-Chair, as well as Irish MEPs Brian Hayes MEP and Sean Kelly MEP.
“While already acutely aware of Irish priorities to maintain peace and stability in Northern Ireland and to avoid a hard border with Northern Ireland, and our concerns for the impact on bilateral trade in goods and services between Ireland and the UK which amounts to €1.2 billion every week, they now have a deeper understanding from the first- hand experience they have gained this week,” McGuinness added.
They walked our invisible, soft border with Northern Ireland, across which some 30,000 people travel each day. That brings home very forcibly the potential impact of a change to a hard border.
“Local political representatives in Co. Louth, business leaders, the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce, the Irish Farmers’ Association and others provided the visitors with tremendous insight into the current status of the border counties and the potential damage Brexit could cause, if a reasonable deal is not struck,” the MEP said.
It was also clear that many of the concerns in Northern Ireland about a hard Brexit are not being articulated by UK and Northern Ireland politicians.
“Our Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the EPP Group are raising these concerns and will continue to do so. On that count, the visit by EU’s Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier to the border region to see for himself the damage that Brexit could bring is also very welcome and very important,” she said.
The schedule included a visit to the North-South border at Carrickarnon, meetings with political, business and community representatives from the border area, at Flagstaff, Omeath, and Carlingford, all in Co. Louth.
The representatives met included local TDs, local business leaders, IFA representatives including President Joe Healy, and members of the Gardai.