BORDERLINE IMPOSSIBLE PORTRAITS FROM IRELAND
People who live and work along the Irish border tell Getty photographer Charles McQuillan about the prospects and perils of Brexit
“My biggest fear is displacement of fishing effort. We traditionally fished in the bay of Dundalk a few miles along the coast, but we’ll no longer be allowed in there, it’s a disaster for the inshore fishing fleet. There are 40 small boats in Kilkeel harbour who seek shelter through the winter from the prevailing south west winds, when Brexit happens where will they go? Small boats exposed 12 miles out to sea, that’s life or death stuff and that’s not bullshit, that’s reality!” FISHERMAN BRIAN CUNNINGHAM is photographed on board his boat ‘The Bluefin’ out in the Irish Sea in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland. Kilkeel houses Ireland’s largest fishing fleet.
“A serious division of people who have lived and worked closely together for many peaceful years. Long queues, angry people, loss of jobs, missed appointments, flights and a younger generation who can’t understand why. They will now be introduced to a time when hate and bigotry were rife and the possible return of paramilitaries. My greatest fear after Brexit is the serious loss of access to cancer services for Donegal patients at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry. Without these patients the North West Cancer Centre will not have the critical mass to sustain the services needed for cancer patients in Derry and the surrounding areas.” CANCER SUPPORT WORKER BETTY HOLMES is photographed against the backdrop of the border between County Donegal and County Londonderry in Donegal, Ireland. Holmes is a member of Donegal Action for Cancer Care and the group is based in the Republic of Ireland but has access to nearby health facilities in the North. Without access to the new radiotherapy unit in Derry, which the Irish government invested in, Donegal cancer patients face a five-hour journey to Galway.
“I can tell you now there is no such thing as a soft border, it will become a hard border by layer upon layer of legislation over time. The only practical solution I can see is to have the border in the Irish Sea.” FARMER AND LANDOWNER
JOHN SHERIDAN photographed beside the Cuilcagh mountain boardwalk peering out at the border from under his felt hat in Florencecourt, Northern Ireland. The popular boardwalk on the farmer’s land allows thousands of tourists to walk across the border every year as it meanders between County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. A member of the Border Communities Against Brexit group, Sheridan predicts that the U.K. will become a Third World country after Brexit.
“I have really no idea (what the border will wind up looking like) and that’s the scary part, no one does! My greatest hope is that it would be division-less and prosperous, not just for business and trade but for the navigation of everyday life.” When asked what concerns her most she goes on to say: “That the border would look like it did when I was growing up, restrictive and fearsome. Absent of both the freedom of movement and unlocked opportunity that my children deserve and that I have enjoyed since 1998.”
EMMA MARMION, VICE-CHAIRMAN OF NEWRY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, stands at the Flagstaff viewpoint on the border between the Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Marmion, who has two young children, owns a successful human resources business with offices and employees in both Newry in the north and Dundalk in the south. She recalls recently explaining to her eldest child, while out riding their bikes, that she was unable to use the road they were cycling when she was young due to concrete blockades placed there by British Army troopers.
“I believe that Ireland’s economy cannot afford to make the border anything more than it already is today, an invisible line that separates the country. At most we will have checkpoints which will take a great step back into the past of Northern Ireland and my biggest fear is that it will damage my future education through travelling to university and affecting my pathway of study.” SCHOOLGIRL CATRIONA WALSH is photographed in a barley field along the Irish border in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Catriona attends nearby St. Mary’s college in Derry and her journey to and from school threads through the border.
“If the politicians were children you’d give them a smack, get their heads together and sort it out. There’s no reason in the world that they can’t come to some common sense agreement. In relation to my sensitive line of work, can you imagine waiting in a queue at the border with family sitting in cars behind you as you carry their loved ones home? It’s undignified! You just can’t close the border off with a brick wall and red tape.” UNDERTAKER JOHNNY MCKEEGAN stands near the border between County Fermanagh and County Cavan in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. McKeegan crosses the border several times a week as he attends to the recently deceased from both sides of the frontier.