The Chairman and Chief Executive of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) were in Brussels last week at the launch of a report commissioned by 11 local authorities along the Border corridor which examines the risks, opportunities and issues to consider as a result of Brexit.

The 48-page report was carried out by the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre.

The report recommends that, in the absence of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive, local councils should grasp any opportunity to include regional concerns in the Brexit negotiations either via, Dublin, London or Brussels.

“Businesses and employees based in the Border Corridor tend to be more concerned about Brexit than you find elsewhere,” the report said, adding that companies close to the Border export mainly to the Republic of Ireland.

This report agrees with an earlier study of the Border region which said there needs to be “greater regional focus in policy-making in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland based more upon the local realities than either a desire to market an area or to deliver national agendas at a local level.”

The authors of this report urge policy makers to “rethink regional policy across the island from the bottom up.”

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One “critical” short term measure that local councils could do to alleviate the pain caused by the weaker pound would be to promote currency and cash management advice and online trading and exporting supports that are available, the report recommends.
In the long term, the report states: “The movement towards greater diversification of trade will need all government bodies, including local government with their economic development [teams], to be working together to ensure business can receive the correct assistance at each step along an export pathway that might be about to get more tricky to navigate.”
If World Trade Organisation tariffs are implemented, the report outlines that: “cross-Border trade would fall in value by nine per cent. With the addition of non-tariff barriers it would decrease by 16 per cent and with the addition of an effective devaluation of 10 per cent in sterling, the fall would be 17 per cent. For agri-food products, the decline in trade value would range from three per cent for live animals to 52 per cent for dairy products.”
The report points out that Brexit could see the UK Government implementing its own Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is currently scheduled to pay €2.3 billion between 2014 and 2020. The authors recommend that the devolved administration in Northern Ireland retains the current CAP because of the importance of direct payments to farmers in the Border corridor and the need to retain a policy coherence and alignment with the Republic of Ireland in light of the co-dependencies in the agrifood area.”
The report said: “Figures from DAERA show that farm incomes in 2016 stood at £244 million, while payments to NI from CAP in the same year amounted to £276 million. This suggests that many farmers, due to prices and costs, were actually losing money in 2016 and only kept afloat by Single Farm Payments.”
The authors suggest “new cooperative initiatives, starting first in the Border corridor.”
The report points out that there were an average of 94,480 border crossings per day in 2015. Five per cent of those crossings (4,400) were at Clones Road, four per cent (3,560) were at Aghalane Road, Derrylin and three per cent (2,370) were at Pettigo Road, Kesh. The routes with the highest shares of heavy goods vehicles were the N2 at Emyvale (12 per cent) and the N52 between Butlers Bridge, County Fermanagh and Clones (11 per cent).
The authors conclude: “Mitigating risks and/or taking opportunities as a result of Brexit will mean defending some of what is currently in place (e.g. funding streams). However, it may mean that how some things are done will also have to change. The Border Corridor, with its peripheral position on the island, already lags behind other regions so breaking with past patterns is necessary. New policy thinking, new methods of cooperation and partnership – between Local Authorities and with central Governments – will be essential for border management to work in the wake of Brexit.”
A copy of the report is now available on the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council website. 
The Council urges everyone and particularly businesses in the Council area, to consider the content of the report carefully in order to be aware of the issues to be considered in relation to Brexit and to prepare for them.
Following the launch of the report, the elected representatives, including FODC Chair Stephen McCann, had a round of political engagements with MEPs and a member of the EU Brexit Steering Group. 
At the same time, Council Officials were engaged in a series of meetings with senior officials at the Northern Ireland Executive Office in Brussels, the permanent representative of the Irish Government in Brussels, the Head of Ireland’s Brexit team and Senior Officials from the EU Brexit team with specific responsibility for the Ireland/Northern Ireland Border.