Dundalk will pay price for the Great British Shake Off
What started as a tremor with the lower-than-expected Remain result from Newcastle-upon-Tyne shortly after 11.30pm on Thursday had turned into an earthquake by the time most Dundalk people woke up on Friday morning to hear, shockingly, that the Great British public had decided to shake off the EU and had voted for Brexit.
Once more, and unexpectedly, Dundalk has found itself at the front line of a frontier it had no choice in creating. Again, a decision taken in another country has plunged Dundalk (and Letterkenny and Monaghan and other border towns) into an uncertain future over which we have very little control.
Border towns face a long period of uncertainty about what happens next.
There are so many questions that need answered. Firstly, fears about the re-emergence of the ‘ hard border’ have surfaced. How will this land border with the EU manifest itself ? Will there be checkpoints and customs post like the days of yore, as pictured on the front of this paper?
What about all the EU-funded cross-border projects such as geotourism, the Narrow Water Bridge, the Memo of Understanding between Newry and Louth councils? And what about the health projects and the ability of people from the South to get much-needed surgery in the North? How will workers fare with pensions, tax and social welfare contributions if the North leaves the EU? And what about border security and protocols between the PSNI and Gardai in this region?
What is the future, in the long and short term, for trade in Dundalk with plunging sterling value in the aftermath of Brexit pointing to a dip in retail already. In six pages of analysis, our reporters Anne Campbell, Olivia Ryan and Francis Carroll get to grips with this historic vote.