NI businesses tell May: no hard borders after Brexit

The Institute of Directors’ Northern Ireland director Kirsty McManus urged all sides to “get creative” and stressed there must not be a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, nor a new border with the rest of the UK in the Irish Sea.

Trevor Lockhart, chief executive of the Fane Valley farmers’ co-operative, said there was “growing frustration” after crunch negotiations in Brussels ended without agreement on the terms of withdrawal after the DUP refused to accept proposals which could have in effect created an Irish Sea border.

The prime minister now faces a race against time to persuade EU leaders ahead of the European Council summit of December 14-15 that “sufficient progress” has been made on divorce issues, including the Irish border, citizens’ rights and a financial settlement, so Brexit negotiations can move to discussions on trade and a transition period.

Ms McManus told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think our members are clear – we don’t want to see a border north-south, nor do we want to see a border in the Irish Sea.”

She said the Good Friday Agreement needs to be “reinforced”, and that “regulatory co-operation” with the Republic of Ireland must continue.

The DUP appeared to object to a form of words in a draft deal which would have ensured “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Ms McManus said: “There (are) very strong binding agreements for both UK and Ireland around the all-island economy which (have) been long-standing since 1998 and we already see significant cross-border co-ordination, so what we would say is there are existing templates there for co-operation.

“Northern Ireland is unique; we’re the only part of the UK that shares a land border with the European Union and areas like the electricity market must be maintained post-Brexit, so therefore what we would say is that regulatory co-operation has to continue.”

Mr Lockhart said something had clearly gone “horribly wrong” on Monday “and this morning we’re trying to pick up the pieces”.

He went on: “From an economic perspective, the reality for us as a business is that an economic border north-south is no more acceptable than it is east-west.”