Dr. Conor Patterson:

I thank the members for inviting us here. We gave evidence as a team representing stakeholders in Newry to the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons two weeks ago. It is a privilege to be here today. We are not politicians and this is not what we do. We are here today because we are deeply concerned by the risks that Brexit presents to the transformation of the Newry Border region.

We will be as honest as we can be, and, as The Irish Timesput it, we are here because "it is hard to imagine anything so pervasive and critical".

Having contributed with others to the transformation of our area from a European record high unemployment rate of almost 30% in 1972 to 2.5% in 2016, we will not countenance decades of sweat equity being put at risk by people who do not seem to have the interests of the well-being of our people at the centre of their considerations, but we will not be negative. We have a positive message. The success of the work in Newry Way was founded on open-mindedness, collaboration, being outward-looking and not being constrained by borders or sectarianism. We want to disseminate our perspective and share our experience with agencies of Government North and South of the Border and beyond who have the power to transform. It is in that approach we have achieved and continue to achieve, as a citizenry in Newry, the Border region and its hinterland and there lies the pathway to success for Northern Ireland and prosperity and stability for all citizens on this island.

However, it is a fact that the economy of our region was devastated by partition, not only that of Newry but its sister-town, Dundalk. Newry was a significant port and trading node midway along the east coast between Belfast and Dublin, and Dundalk was an important centre for the production of engineered goods, leatherwear and beer. However, through most of the 20th century the region endured some of the highest rates of unemployment in Europe, emigration, under-investment and political instability, and that predated the Troubles. For example, Newry had 16% unemployment in 1962 when Britain had full employment and it had almost 30% unemployment in 1972. Newry became disadvantaged by its location, close to the enforced Border. After 1922 it was known as the frontier town. The Northern Ireland state did not invest in cross-Border roads or other links with the Republic. People travelling across the Border before the Troubles required approval to do so on most of the routes across the Border, which were designated unapproved. Newry's hinterland of south Armagh was branded bandit country and Dundalk, its sister-town, was branded El Paso during the Troubles.

However, during the past 25 years, these communities, North and South of the Border, the partition boundary, have taken advantage of the dissolution of the Border as a barrier to the movement of goods and people and have grown world-leading, innovative, locally owned companies, employing thousands. We have built an economy comprising very successful home-grown, large exporting employers but also thousands of agile micro-enterprises, trading deftly between the two jurisdictions in Ireland.

Our companies benefit from a supply of skilled workers from a cross-Border labour pool. They leverage now what is Newry's biggest advantage, its accessible east coast location less than an hour from Belfast and Dublin. The vast majority of our businesses in this Border region are home market or near shore traders. Their ability to freely access near shore markets is crucial to their competitiveness, profitability and sustainability. Any disruption to trading modalities, and especially to the freedom of movement, will badly affect the small and medium enterprise, SME, sector. Beyond Britain and the island of Ireland, the near shore markets with which our companies trade are in the EU.

The weak sterling currency is a windfall currently for Newry retailers, but that is only for as long as there is free unfettered movement of shoppers travelling up North from the Republic with no limits on how much product they can bring back.

A number of our companies in the Border region have used their experience in growing from small companies to larger companies, now employing thousands, to develop markets further ashore. Those which have done so tell us that trading far offshore is complex. There are transport issues, challenges, local market intelligence, the limited reach of legal protections with respect to intellectual property or payment defaults, political stability issues and so on. They tell us in our consultations that the markets in the so-called Anglo sphere are distant. Costs go up before their goods have to be shipped, so markets such as Australia and New Zealand have relatively small populations, fractions of the size of the French or German markets alone. Those that produce within a complex regulatory framework are concerned as to how the thousands of EU laws and regulations which are embedded in UK law will be handled.

We want to work, as we have already been doing, with the authorities of the Irish Republic and we look forward to collaborating with the committee to make the best that we can of this challenge.