Northern Ireland not ready for Brexit, says Chartered Accountants Ulster Society

Chartered Accountants Ireland's Ulster Society Chairman has issued a stark warning about how underprepared Northern Ireland is for possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

At the Charter Accountants Ulster Society's Annual Dinner last night, members spoke harshly about the UK government's lack of post-Brexit plans for Northern Ireland and the region's lack of preparedness for the possibility og a no-deal Brexit. Chairman Niall Harkin said that "It is difficult to believe that with just 22 days to go, we are still without an agreement which means facing a hard Brexit and a hard border on the island of Ireland."

Harkin warned that Northern Ireland could find itself caught out by a no-deal scenario, bringing up the fact that only 11% of the local Chartered Accountants said that their business was ready for Brexit and over half had very little or no plans in place at all for it. This comes despite the fact that 60% of them agree that Brexit will have a negative impact for their businesses.

It's now the vast majority opinion among Chartered Accountants members (70%) that a Brexit deal will not be agreed by the March 29th deadline and the UK will "crash out of the EU" without a deal. "There is still significant uncertainty and a lack of clarity about what Brexit will mean for Northern Ireland business," explained Harkin.

Blame for the lack of preparedness of Northern Ireland for any potential Brexit scenario was not limited to the UK government, however. "It is now over two years since we had a functioning Executive and Assembly," said Harkin, adding that "As it stands today Northern Ireland has no Programme for Government, we have no plan for Brexit and we have no shared vision for Northern Ireland. Every day of delay is a further step backwards."

Source: Written based on press release