SINN Féin Councillor Mickey Cooper says the Brexit vote will hit the border communities of Derry and Donegal the hardest.
He was speaking from a conference entitled Driving Growth in the North West with the Challenges and Opportunities of Brexit which is being held at An Grianán Hotel, Burt, Co Donegal.
Cllr Cooper said: “In the aftermath of the recent EU referendum Sinn Féin held a series of public meetings in Derry and across Ireland and it’s clear there is a great deal of concern about the prospect of being dragged out of the EU.
“In border areas in particular there is huge uncertainty over the impact on agriculture, business, trade, travel, tourism and those who cross the border on a daily basis.
“We recently brought a motion to the council to support the Border Communities Against Brexit campaign and to make alliances with other council’s in border areas who will be similarly affected by Brexit once implemented:
“Our motion was designed to show that our council recognised the massive impact that Brexit will have on border areas.
“It included the major potential disruption at the border created by border controls, increased costs for cross-border traders through new tariffs.
“And reduced income for border farmers created by a loss of EU subsidies and reduced freedom of movement for local residents.
“In particular, this council will lose a massive amount of EU monies which are currently used for job creation, Rural Development and infrastructural programmes.
“When this money disappears post-Brexit the council will have little choice but to downsize these initiatives or else increase rates to allow these programmes to continue.
“I am glad we got support for the motion to proceed which will now allow us to begin building alliances with other councils to build a lobby against Brexit.”
