Gráinne Walsh on Brexit in today's News Letter

Brexit/UKexit... how are we dealing with it?

Twelve weeks on from the epic psycho drama of the EU referendum, where is Northern Ireland in the five stages of grief? Some are still in denial (we shall not exit). However, Daniel Greenberg, legal adviser in the Office of Speaker’s Counsel at the UK House of Commons, told a packed Assembly Senate Chamber that the Brexit legal challenges lodged by local politicians and activists are a non-starter. 

Others are clearly still angry - in a tone far from comforting for Theresa May, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MLA last weekend delivered a robust message for the Brexiteers in Government. Referring to Leave's “take back control” slogan, he argued “Irish nationalism says this – we know how you feel. No one should therefore be surprised if in the wake of Brexit ‘Taking Back Control’ is precisely what we in the North now intend to do.”

While the bargaining stage of grief comes next, the joint letter from the First and deputy First Minister to the Prime Minister was an early positive positioning by an Executive dogged by division over Brexit, recognising as it did, specific arrangements such as the all-island Single Electricity Market, unique even in the EU.

Indeed, this was followed by the Westminster Northern Ireland Select Committee inquiry into the future of the twisting, currently uncontrolled 365-mile ‘hedge’ between us and our neighbours. They have identified nine areas for review, one of them being the options that would maintain the First and deputy First Ministers’ desire for free movement of people, goods and services.

Depression came in the form of Michael O’Leary’s address to the annual CBI NI lunch. Having reduced services from the City of Derry Airport already, O’Leary reported that uncertainty about the future regulatory/open skies regime is a cause of real concern.  He was clear: the referendum result has caused Ryanair to pivot their growth away from Northern Ireland and the UK.

So, three months on from the referendum, with Leavers celebrating the fact that the economy hasn’t tanked and Remainers sticking to their concerns, how do you separate the rhetoric from the reality? How do you know what political messages will actually resonate with nationalists and unionists alike?

Interestingly, what role will the Republic of Ireland play in negotiations on the other side of the table, with the 27? Will they counter the inclination amongst some of the member states for a tough exit? Friend or foe, willing champion or reluctant ally?

Despite the national media focus on Davis, Fox and Johnson, those of us in Northern Ireland, at the coal face/hard border of the UKexit debate, are following the work of Secretary of State James Brokenshire and his fresh team at the Northern Ireland Office as they navigate the complexity of relationships within and between the UK and its closest neighbour. Let’s all accept it’s going to be interesting.

This article was published in the News Letter on 27.09.16.