The Brexit agreement reached in Brussels on Thursday “has to be welcomed”, the ICMSA has said.

The challenge now is to get the deal approved by the UK House of Commons “and allow a new atmosphere of certainty and positivity to replace the negativity that has developed due partly to Brexit around Irish farming and food”, its president Pat McCormakc said.

Irish farmers are psychologically exhausted and worn down by the Brexit drama, and have paid a very heavy price financially to date, particularly in the beef sector, he added.

Any certainty, any degree of predictability, is so welcome after these three years of daily confusion and anxiety that we must welcome it

“Whatever happens now – and we always have to remember that whatever comes out of this hoped-for agreement, it will categorically not be as smooth and seamless as the conditions we have now with the UK as a member state – we at least will have some idea of the business landscape we’ll be traversing and the agreement will being a level of certainty and stability,” said McCormack.

“Any certainty, any degree of predictability, is so welcome after these three years of daily confusion and anxiety that we must welcome it – albeit in the knowledge that there is no such thing as a ‘good Brexit’.”

Energise

He added that farmers must use the deal to re-energise the sector and bring some focus to the questions that were parked for the last three years.

“Hopefully, this deal will be approved by the House of Commons and if approved, then it will be time to get back to our business and start working again in the knowledge that the worst has been averted,” he said.

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Brexit deal agreed in Brussels between EU and UK