Deep concern for jobs as industry awaits Hard Brexit .
As Theresa May is due to announce a “clean break ” from Europe tomorrow in a speech designed to appease the Euroseptic wing of her party, the implications for Ireland are significant and already some firms have closed as a result of Brexit .
The details of Mays speech emerged yesterday the day after the EUs Chief negotiator offered the first hint of compromise from Brussels to ensure that member states continue to have easy access to the City of London .
This morning the pound slipped to a three-month low in early trading with investors spooked by concerns over Britains exit from the European Union and now the single market .Investors are worried that such a decisive break from the single market will drive foreign investment out of the U.K and hurt British exports .
For Ireland the planned hard Brexit and the absence of a trade deal between the UK and the EU will have significant implications for the border and could see tariffs charged on goods crossing the border or moving between the Republic of Ireland and Britain.
The impact on Ireland could be a permanent loss of 3.1% of GDP by 2030 and the resultant job losses associated with such a contraction .
On the good news front a hard Brexit could see the movement of firms from the UK to Ireland with some major financial institutions already actively considering moving business to Ireland .
With some €1.2 billion of trade passing between the UK and Ireland each week the planned hard Brexit will lead to job losses and falling tax receipts and business and industry bodies are deeply concerned about tomorrow’s speech and fear that many years of hard work recovering from the crash will be loss overnight .
5 mushroom farms supplying the UK supermarket business have already closed and tourism is another key sector as risk with over 41% of trips to Ireland by overseas visitors coming from the UK ,the tourists will be put off travelling with the pound at over 20% less in value .
Engineers Ireland reported last week that 40% of its members had UK deals deferred or downgraded since Brexit .
A total of 400,000 jobs are calculated to be dependent on Irish -UK trade, with over 40% of all exports from Irish owned firms going to the UK.
Tomorrows speech could be the start of a disastrous period period in trade relations between Britain and Ireland .
