Farmer with land on both sides of Irish border fears chaos of no-deal Brexit
A farmer with land on both sides of the border fears a no-deal Brexit could hit him hard.
Breffni McKiernan runs a 350-acre site in Swanlinbar, Co Cavan, with his dad Gerry and says the uncertainty of Brexit is causing him stress.
They live just 2km away from the frontier with the North while being surrounded by the Benaughlin Mountain in Co Fermanagh.
Because of their location, the father and son duo now fear a no-deal Brexit will bring milk export taxes and border checks.
Breffni told the Irish Mirror : "You would [have fears] over a hard border – most definitely. Especially as I cross it five or six times a day.
“I’ve heard stories about it before. [My dad] would be worried about it. What went on years ago it was torture for the people.
“I don’t think it’ll come to that. I think they learnt enough years ago with the amount of people that were killed and injured. It couldn’t come down to that again.”
Will a no-deal Brexit turn your life upside down? Email [email protected]
The dairy herd management graduate, who rents a number of fields across the border in the North, studied for two years at Ballyhaise Agricultural College before he started farming full-time.
He added: “I’ve a lot of family across the border. My mother Jacinta’s from Fermanagh – only about five minutes down the road in Kinawley.
“We’ve a lot of uncles and aunties down there and I’d cross the border five or six times a day maybe.
“You’d hardly notice and you wouldn’t pass any difference.
“My relatives would be concerned. The way the whole thing was going on and then it didn’t even happen in March and now it’s extended until October.
“I think people are just fed up at this stage. Farmers obviously want some sort of a deal, but I think people are surprised by the situation.
“I never thought it would happen at all and with Boris Johnson in now, I think things could change again.”
Breffni believes former prime minister Theresa May "was trying her best" to secure a deal and says the backstop provided some degree of certainty for the border region and both jurisdictions.
"I think the deal we were getting for the North and the southern part of Ireland was meant to be the bees knees but nobody would back her.”
The young farmer, whose older brother is Cavan footballer Gearoid McKiernan, is also very worried about the prospects of tax hikes on milk exports eating into their profits.
He added: “Farming is a tough game. Tariffs would be the biggest [Brexit] worry, especially in the dairy industry.
“Our dairy exports [in Ireland] are worth over €800million and I think about €400million of that is exported to the UK.
“If there’s tariffs on all that, what way is it going to go?”
Breffni explained how most of their income comes from dairy farming, with 160 cows on their farm.
He said they buy a lot of their feed from cross-border business Lakelands, adding: “We make our own silage and we buy in the meal and fertiliser. Most of the fertiliser that comes here is probably from Northern companies.
Source: Read Full Article