Vote to leave EU will have serious impact on Louth

A HARDENING OF THE BORDER IS LIKELY IF UK VOTE TO LEAVE EUROPE

WITH over 10 million people crossing the border every year, the impact of a ‘Brexit’ on this area has taken centre stage in the days before the UK referendum this Thursday.

As the ‘Irish4Europe’ group highlight a sizeable movement of 30,000 people freely travelling back and forth across the border every day, the implications of Northern Ireland no longer in the EU are more serious in this area than anywhere else in Europe.

David D’Arcy, Communications Director of Irish4Europe said: ‘Brexit would not take us back to the dark days of the Troubles but it would affect the open border. The Good Friday agreement which is strongly underpinned by the EU has created peace and unity where there was hatred and division.’

He added that the Irish border would become the EU’s only land frontier with the UK.

‘If the Leave campaign is successful in its objectives a hardening of the border is an inevitability both in terms of customs and migration checks. Last week Prime Minister David Cameron said that Brexit could mean border restrictions between Northern Ireland and the Republic and warned of the possibility that people travelling from Belfast to other parts of the UK would have to provide paperwork.’

‘Irish4Europe believes an open border is vital to continued economic prosperity across the island of Ireland.’

‘Customs and migration checks would risk the progress and harmony initiated by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and supported by British and Irish membership of the EU.’

Meanwhile Sinn Féin President Gerry Adam TD has urged the people of Louth to ‘ encourage anyone they know living in the north to vote to remain in the EU in Thursday’s Brexit referendum.’

‘A vote to leave the EU will have serious consequences for Louth. It will adversely impact on cross border trade, tourism and the increasingly close economic connections there are between our two parts of the island. It is vital that voters in the north use their vote on Thursday to support the significant progress that has been made since the Good Friday Agreement.’

He admitted there were ‘very serious concerns at the democratic deficit at the core of the European Union. However, the possibility that a part of the island of Ireland could end up outside the European Union while the other part stays in is not a situation that will benefit the people of this island, and especially the people of Louth.’

The Good Friday Agreement has brought about significant changes, including ensuring that the border is now all but invisible. People who live on either side of it travel, back and forward to work, to shop, to visit relatives, to use hospital and