EU Citizen’s award for local anti Brexit group
A voluntary and community group made up of people from both sides of the border to campaign against Brexit has won a major European award for their work highlighting the impact Brexit would have on life in Ireland.
The Border Communities Against Brexit (BCAB) won the European Parliament Citizen’s Prize, along with the Foroige organisation, after being nominated by Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy and his fellow party MEPs Martina Anderson, Lynn Boylan and Liadh Ní Riada and independent MEPs Nessa Childers and Marian Harkin.
The Border Communities Against Brexit group has provided a platform for disparate groups from both sides of the border, including the business and farming sector, to come together to ensure there is no return to the border following Britain’s exit from the EU.
The group’s spokesperson, Jonesboro’ businessman, Declan Fearon, said the team was delighted to have won the award, but, as both the EU and Britain gear up for formal negotiations to begin at the end of this month, he said they were determined to remain focused on ensuring that Irish voices from the border area continue to be heard.
BCAB was set up less than a year ago and has generated headlines in Ireland and the EU for staging their ‘return of the customs posts’ protests around the border, including at Killeen. But it is the opportunity to speak to key EU decision makers and negotiators that has been a highlight for Mr Fearon.
He said: ‘We wanted our voice to be as loud as possible and over the last 12 months, we have been intensely listened to by EU negotiators and advisers about the issues we have raised, including the fact that the British government has unilaterally decided to walk away from not only the EU, but also from the Good Friday Agreement. We have also met with the Irish government several times and spoken about border-specific issues’.
Mr Carthy said: ‘ The award is a fantastic endorsement of the great work car- ried out by BCAB and the communities it represents. They have played a key role in opposing British Tory determination to drag the North of Ireland out of the EU against the democratically expressed wishes of the people there. They have been instrumental in bringing together the key sectors that will be negatively impacted by any Brexit induced hardening of the Irish border - businesses, workers, farmers and civic society.
‘ That they have now been awarded the EU Citizen’s Prize is an important recognition of the hard work and dedication of Border Communities Against Brexit in defending democracy and the interests of Irish border communities.
MEP Mairead McGuinness also congratulated BCAB. They will be awarded the 2017 European Citizen’s Prize in October during a ceremony at the European Parliament, Brussels.