Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I emphasise that I am a realist and I know it is not easy to attract foreign direct investment to rural areas. An additional impetus is needed to try to attract foreign direct investment to the Border area, which has the skills pool and people required. At a time such as this, we must ensure there is good collaboration between agencies, North and South, as there has been over the years. Many of the companies and enterprises I spoke about have sister companies north of the Border and many are all-Ireland companies, with plants on both sides of the Border. Business owners from Armagh, Fermanagh and Tyrone have visited me and expressed great concern about the effects of Brexit on their companies. It is equally important that they get through these difficult times. We must address the issues, concerns and challenges arising from Brexit on an all-Ireland basis. We must ensure the co-operation that has existed, particularly since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, is built upon in the challenging 18 months ahead of us. The loss of a job in Fermanagh impacts on my constituency, just as the loss of a job in Cavan-Monaghan impacts on the economy of Fermanagh. Thankfully, for upwards of 20 years, the island has been experiencing a great movement of people, goods and services that it did not experience prior to 1998.

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