‘We have to avoid panic over Brexit’ says IFA leader
THE most palatable option for Ireland in the upcoming Brexit negotiations is for the British Government to choose the ‘Norwegian’ EU association model, Prof Gerry Boyle, Teagasc director, has stated.
It was preferable to a Swiss type of association with the EU and considerably better than Britain allowing World Trade organisation (WTO) rules to govern its future trading relationship with the EU.
Prof Boyle said Brexit was an extraordinary step for the British people to take, given their trading history. However, for the moment, nobody knew what Britain wanted from the upcoming negotiations or what it might get from the EU.
He was speaking at a farming conference on Brexit organised by Alo Mohan, the chairman of the Taste of Cavan festival, which was addressed by Irish and British farm leaders and various Irish politicians.
IFA leader Joe Healy likened the British referendum outcome to a “death in the family”.
“It couldn’t be seen in a positive light but we have to avoid panicking and keep calm,” he said.
The IFA leader told his audience that the decision by Irish meat factories to reduce beef prices by 20c/ kg in the wake of the recent sterling slump was remarkable, given that independent fiscal experts had calculated the sterling slide was equivalent to only 7c/kg.
He called on the Government to bulk up the farmer schemes to balance the negative financial impacts of Brexit on Irish farmers and to adequately fund and support the Department of Agriculture’s unit which was dealing with the outcome of the referendum.
Independent MEP Marian Harkin also likened Brexit to a “family separation” adding: “when you finish a relationship you close it off and it is never going to be the same again.”
She stressed that while Britain had decided to leave the EU the actual terms of its departure would have to be agreed – not only by Britain but by every national parliament within the EU and the European Parliament itself.
Former minister for agriculture Brendan Smith said the British government should “trigger the Brexit negotiations ASAP”.
Deputy Smith predicted that the ambitions of our national agricultural programmes such as Harvest 2020 would be adversely affected by delays in triggering Britain’s exit.
He claimed agriculture on both parts of the island of Ireland would be hit for “years to come” as a result of the British move, due to trade and currency problems.
The Cavan-Monaghan TD insisted that there could be no return to a hard border between the North and the Republic and he regretted that bodies such as Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland, along their Northern counterparts, had not evolved into all-Ireland bodies before the Brexit became an issue in British politics.