The Donegal border village of Muff breathed a collective sigh of relief as news of the no-border Brexit deal broke.
The breakdown of borders transformed Muff from a small drive-through village to a satellite town for Derry. As in other border villages in the Republic, the influx of northern motorists seeking cheaper petrol and diesel brought jobs and prosperity.
In the Squealin' Pig pub, the chat among lunchtime drinkers yesterday varied from the snow to the Brexit deal.
Paddy Taylor, who is originally from Derry but has been living in Muff for many years, said there had been a real fear of the return to a hard border.
“I remember when you would go to the beach at Lisfannon and you’d have to go an hour to get through the border and there’d be a border post on this side too. It’s far better now. People are relieved,” he said.
His fellow-drinker, Joe Doherty remembered the border post closing overnight from 8pm.
“Muff would have become a ghost town if there’d been a hard border. Cross border workers were very concerned and people were concerned about health provisions with Altnagelvin being the nearest hospital and it’s in the north.
“I think people are relieved more than anything. People are pleased that the other EU countries stood by Ireland,” he said.
Up the street in the town barbers, Colin Hampson said his customers were worried about the confusion created by Monday’s stalemate.
“People didn’t know what way things were going to go. I think people were annoyed that the DUP were holding things up on Monday. When your man, Leo Varadkar said ‘we’re building bridges not borders’ people were pleased. Fair play to him.”
For businessman, Kevin Doherty the pledge that there would be no hard border meant he could plan for the future. Mr Doherty’s Centra supermarket and petrol station relies heavily on northern trade.
“Most people were talking about the snow today but for us we were a bit concerned when no deal was done on Monday. If it turns out there’ll definitely be no checks at the border, that would be great; it puts the mind at ease,” he said.
