Brexit – How will it affect you?

22 Feb 2017     Last updated: 22 Feb 2017

The terms under which the UK will leave the European Union following last year’s EU referendum result will impact on a huge range of areas of public life and, by extension, on a huge range of the sector’s activities and areas of concern.

NICVA is keen to ensure that the full range of potential impacts of Brexit on the sector and its work are fully taken into account in the negotiation of these terms and so we are inviting organisations to submit evidence of these impacts to us.  If you have undertaken research, produced reports, or have any other information or experiences to share about how Brexit may impact on your work, and would like to have these featured on our ‘Brexit Hub’, please submit the details to [email protected].

Potential impacts and related issues already highlighted include -

The loss of EU funding and the level of continued access to certain EU funds post-Brexit (e.g. Interreg cross-border funding which non-EU states such as Norway can still access).

The future of rights currently available to NI citizens because of EU membership, including:

  • Rights to live, work, study (carry out research) in, and travel without restriction to, other EU countries (inc. ROI)
  • Rights to access healthcare in other EU countries
  • Employment rights (e.g. through EU Working Time Directive)
  • Rights to vote, stand for election in other EU countries
  • Level of EU citizenship rights retained by NI citizens through their rights to Irish citizenship

The potential for a ‘Rural Vacuum’ left by the withdrawal of EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments, the EU Rural Development Programme (including Agri-Environment Schemes and support for Rural Communities), and the EU LEADER programme (rural economic development/jobs) programme.

The potential ‘Environmental protection vacuum’ – left if environmental standards and protection underpinned by EU Directives are no longer applied – e.g. for air quality, water quality (in rivers, bathing water, seas) chemical pollution, protection of natural environment.

Immigration and ethnic minority interests – Uncertainty remains about the rights which existing EU immigrants to NI will have after Brexit, as well as concerns about increased anti-immigration sentiment.  All of this is coming at a time when funding for Northern Ireland’s Council for Ethnic Minorities has been withdrawn and the Council has ceased to exist.

Energy – The impacts of Brexit on the effective functioning of the all-island energy market and  grid infrastructure, the focus, location and type of future energy generation on the island; and on future energy prices are all as yet unknown and a cause for concern.

NICVA is engaging with the media, government, and other parts of civil society to highlight the wide-ranging impacts which the outcome of the Brexit negotiations could have for the voluntary and community sector and wider society in Northern Ireland.  Please support us in representing your interests by submitting any relevant information, data or research you have carried out to [email protected] for us to store on our Brexit Hub.

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