The IFA and ICSMSA have given their reaction to the announcement that draft legislation has been published to help define the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

Ireland has already felt an impact from the Brexit vote in 2016, with marts along the border reporting a drop-off in trade as the value of sterling has fallen. Irish exports have also suffered from the currency devaluation.

ICMSA president Pat McCormack has welcomed the news, but he’s stated that he feels it adds to the confusion around Brexit, rather than clarifying some of the key issues.

“We’re just over a year away from the effective date and we still have nothing to go on; nothing that allows us to plan or predict,” McCormack said.

“In the interests of every individual and business on both sides of the border, we would want to have some framework settled very, very quickly that allow businesses like farmers to plan accordingly.”

IFA

IFA president Joe Healy has said that the latest text was an inevitable result of the UK’s insistence on leaving the Customs Union.

“The Irish Government has to maintain its focus on the relationship between the EU and the entirety of the UK, and the need for the UK to maintain full regulatory alignment with the EU in the area of agriculture and food in any future relationship,” Healy stated.

Healy continued by saying that the decision to have north-south regulatory alignment, would help to solve the issue of hard border, but that the focus is now to look at direct exports between the Republic of Ireland and mainland UK – one of the most valuable markets for Irish farmers.

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