SOME workers have already decided to move across the border amid fears over the impact of Brexit, according to a new report.
Research from Queen’s University Belfast and the Irish Central Border Area Network has found Brexit is already having an effect on communities along the border - more than a year before the UK is due to leave the European Union.
The report focussed on council areas in the central border region including: Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon; Cavan; Donegal; Fermanagh and Omagh; Leitrim; Mid Ulster; Monaghan and Sligo.
It found that some people who live on one side of the border and work on the other have already decided to move.
Many respondents said they would avoid crossing the border, or make fewer journeys, in the event of new structures including customs controls.
The research found that many respondents associate border controls with the Troubles, with one saying "hardening the border is like opening a wound".
Queen's University academic Dr Katy Hayward said the study is the first to explore the possible effects of Brexit on the area.
"Socially, politically, economically and in very practical ways – people living closest to the border will be the ones who feel the effects of any change to the nature of the border most acutely and they are already anticipating what this might mean," she said.
