With 31 working days until negotiations time out, Theresa May has been selling her vision for post-Brexit Britain to businesses in Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister is hoping her visit will reaffirm the government’s commitment to thwarting any chance of a hard border and sell an agreement that Northern Ireland can get behind, all the while searching for the key to unlock the Westminster stalemate.
Those addressed by May – a business community in Northern Ireland that has endured years of uncertainty on the future of trade with their neighbours – has thus far been drowned out by the political noise. Yet while our politicians talk, businesses in Ireland have been quietly doing what they do best: making decisions and going for growth.
Ireland has fast become a key battleground for the future identity of Europe and the backstop decision will have deep ramifications on what has emerged as a highly collaborative, dynamic and creative entrepreneurial community that is often blind to the border which has inspired so many headlines.
The entrepreneurs on either side are thriving from frictionless trade and have created a community of companies that despite a political crisis have ramped up their investment plans.
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