It’s time we face Brexit and harness it for our own good

THE Australian bush poem, Said Hanrahan, came to mind as I watched George Lee’s programme on the implications of Brexit for farming. In the well-known rhyme by John O’Brien, every couple of stanzas end with the refrain — “We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, “before the year is out”.

RTE’s Brexit: Farming at the Edge saw George tour the country looking for signs of despair and ruination in the face of Brexit, and he found plenty. Why wouldn’t he? Build the programme around the prospect of a no-deal, hard Brexit, litter the commentary with terms like ‘tariffs’ and WTO rules and you will certainly darken the mood. Then visually conclude the whole production on the edge of a (rather attractive) cliff and all you’re short of are the three witches from Macbeth.

The agricultural community is fertile ground when it comes to prophets of doom and harbingers of disaster. The daily stream of press releases from farming organisations, even during the best of times, is akin to the last torrent of telegrams from the British garrison before the fall of Singapore. Searching for doom and gloom is like looking for water in the Atlantic, you’ ll get buckets of it.

There is no doubt that Brexit is massive on a wide range of fronts — economically, politically and culturally — but it’s time we did more than brace ourselves for it, we need to face it, adapt ourselves and harness it for our own good.

On the economic front, and particularly in terms of agriculture, there is little doubt but in a worst-case scenario we could find ourselves shut out from our most lucrative market.

Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that we will continue to have access to the most affluent market in the world, to a customer base of up to 500 million people with relatively stable incomes located in some of the richest countries on the planet.

Yes, many parts of this market remain unexplored and unexploited by Ireland and are not penetrated by our products. Rather than wasting time and energy wringing our hands praying that Brexit will disappear, we should be in active pursuit of these markets, adapting our products and practices accordingly. This cannot be done overnight but neither will Brexit happen overnight. There is a long road and there could be a long transition period ahead.

Immediately after the result of the British referendum, Nigel Farage declared that June 23 would come to be known as the UK’s independence day. It could also come to be known as our independence day.

It is interesting to watch history programmes on the BBC. When it comes to the break-up of the empire, they understand that it began with the departure of India in 1948. Ireland is not regarded as having gained independence until we left the Commonwealth in 1949, when John A Costello declared the republic. However, it can be argued that our economic independence from the UK has never materialised. Even our accession to the EEC in 1973 could only happen in tandem with the UK.

The British departure from the EU may well mark our first real experience of economic independence, especially in the field of agriculture. We have always been the back-garden or the haggard of Britain, growing and exporting only what they need. The story of farming in Ireland, aside from recent developments in the dairy and nutrition sectors, has been the story of our response to the needs of our nearest neighbour — oak for her ships, horses for her cavalry, and beef for her soldiers’ bellies.

Whether Brexit is hard or soft, the centuries old relationship of dependency between them and us is set to change fundamentally.

As a consequence, we will have to cast our net all across Europe for customers. We will need to be even more innovative as we continue to shift away from commodities — be these bulk milk powders or beef for Britain’s service sector — to more targeted products tailored for specific markets. This is the challenge; we can moan about it or rise to it.

Those who advocate that we should leave the EU along with the UK show a distinct lack of historical perspective and an even shorter supply of courage and creativity. Aside from the DUP I don’t know anyone who would want to put the future of their country at the mercy of the little-Englanders camped in the Eurosceptic redoubt of the Tory party.

Politically, Brexit threatens to be a minefield,