EU will have to support local farmers and businesses – Kilkenny TD John McGuinness
KILKENNY TD John McGuinness has said Europe will have to provide funding to help local farmers and companies to access new markets if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.
Deputy McGuinness was speaking as a new report published by the Department of Finance and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) this morning warns a disorderly no-deal Brexit will put up to 80,000 Irish jobs at risk, delivering a deep and damaging shock to the Irish economy.
The Fianna Fáil TD (pictured below) told KilkennyNow.ie: “Brexit will affect the whole agri food sector. There’s a lot of small companies that are working on the back of Glanbia, and there’s a huge amount of stuff being exported [locally].”
Yesterday the EU warned that checks on goods entering Ireland from the UK will have to be “immediately” applied in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The new ESRI study published this morning outlines some of the knock-on effects tariffs would have on the Irish economy.
In the case of a disorderly Brexit, economic output here would be 5% lower after 10 years than if the UK remained in the EU, while employment would be 3.4% lower, which equates to 77,500 fewer jobs. The disorderly scenario would also mean a hit to real wages of approximately 1.4% with a knock-on impact on consumption.
Deputy McGuinness said the EU will have to help fund supports to local farmers and businesses if the UK introduces tariffs.
“If the tariffs are brought in it will affect the beef sector that is [already] on its knees. It could very well negatively affect the agri food sector, so Ireland will find itself having to financially support initiatives to access other markets to continue the export levels that we have and Europe is going to have to assist us in funding on that,” the Kilkenny TD added. 
