No Deal Brexit may cause thousands of job losses and food and medicine shortages in Ireland
IRELAND faces food and medicine shortages and 110,000 job losses if there’s a No Deal Brexit – leader Leo Varadkar was warned yesterday.
The Irish Central Bank said a crash out on October 31 would cause an economic shock of “unprecedented nature”.
There would be mayhem at ports and airports, an ICB report said.
The apocalyptic forecast came a day after the Irish Premier slapped down Boris Johnson’s request for Ireland to compromise on Brexit by “abolishing the backstop”.
The ICB predicted No Deal would immediately relegate Ireland from being the Eurozone’s fastest growing economy to its slowest.
And warning the risk of a rupture has “increased” since April, the ICB said GDP expansion would be just 0.7 per cent next year, instead of 4.1 per cent with a Brexit deal.
Ireland’s Food and Drink Federation has previously warned No Deal could spark shortages of fresh fruit and veg, chicken products, milk powder and wheat.
The Government has also warned access to medicines could be disrupted with more than half of the 4,000 on the market coming from or travelling via the UK.
The dramatic warning came as:
- PM Boris Johnson sent his chief negotiator David Frost to Brussels to warn EU chiefs he’s serious about leaving with No Deal.
- Sinn Fein warned the new PM he faced an immediate Irish reunification vote after a “Crash” Brexit.
- Downing Street and Health Secretary Matt Hancock were in talks over plans for a major new NHS spending spree.
- Controversial Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal was revealed as having donated £10,000 to Mr Johnson’s leadership campaign.
The Bank of England is expected to increase the pressure on No10 with a gloomy UK forecast today.
But the ICB report will pile pressure on Dublin to move closer to the British position.
It warned of customs chaos causing knock-on “implications for households through the price and availability of consumer goods” and hammering Irish exports.
Ireland’s food and farming industries will be particularly badly hit.
The bank estimated 34,000 jobs would go by the end of 2020 and a further 76,000 over the next decade — around 5 per cent of workers.
No Deal would squeeze tax receipts, leading to “a return to a General Government deficit”.
The report said: “Exports would fall due to an immediate and large reduction in demand from the UK and the fall in sterling.
“After 10 years the level of output in the Irish economy would be 6 per cent lower.”
BACKSTOP MUST GO
ICB director of economics Mark Cassidy said: “This will not be a shock that is confined to a small number of sectors or regions.”
No10 renewed its attack on the “anti-democratic” backstop.
Meanwhile Mr Frost reiterated the message to the EU in Brussels.
Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said he “made our position clear” that the backstop must go.
An EU official hit back that Michel Barnier had “reaffirmed the EU’s stance of not wanting to renegotiate or reopen the Brexit deal”.
Congressional leaders in the US yesterday warned they could block a US-UK trade deal if Brexit jeopardises the Irish peace process.
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The US is guarantor of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Richard Neal, co-chair of the 54-strong Friends of Ireland caucus in Congress said: “The American dimension to the Good Friday Agreement is indispensable.
“I would have little enthusiasm for entertaining a bilateral trade agreement with the UK if they were to jeopardise the agreement.”
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TO HAVE A HARD BORDER OR LEAVE THINGS ALMOST AS THEY ARE IS THE CHOICE OF IRELAND.
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