FEARS are already beginning to grow that Fermanagh could see a return to the days of road closures. 

During the Troubles only a handful of roads were left open with the majority of roads between Fermanagh and the South either cratered or blocked by concrete bollards in an effort by the British army to thwart IRA activity.

With both the British and Irish governments strongly stating in the past week that some form of border control will be implemented in the event of a UK departure from the EU, the prospect of dozens of roads reopened after the IRA ceasefire being reclosed is a real one.

Locally, in areas such as Newtownbutler and Roslea, residents are getting nervous. While many have said they can’t see a return to the “bad old days”, some, such as Cllr Brian McCaffery, have pointed out there are so many roads it simply wouldn’t be possible to erect border controls on all of them. 

“It’s very difficult to see how they could plan, in one situation, to stop illegal immigrants crossing the border, then leaving the back door open for them to get in,” said Cllr McCaffery, from Roslea. 

He added he did not believe the people of Roslea would willingly accept new road closures: “We didn’t accept it when the army was using considerable force to close them, and it’s unlikely we’d accept it at any point in the future.”

Cllr McCaffery said Roslea had always suffered because of its proximity to the border, even without road closures, and said people were anxious about the upcoming referendum. 

“People in Roslea work and socialise on both sides of the border,” he said. “Any sort of restriction on movement would put Roslea in a very difficult position.”  

He added people in the North should make their views known by voting as, in the event of a Brexit, “you never know what could happen.”

Seamus Carolan, who runs Roslea Enterprise Centre which has businesses from both sides of the border, said he believed “road closures just couldn’t happen in this day and age” but said he did believe there could be “more stringent controls” between the North and Great Britain. 

Stating he himself was in favour of remaining, Mr Carolan joked there were some in Roslea who had found “a silver lining” in the possible return of the borders. 

“I was talking to people this morning and they are looking forward to a Brexit because smuggling will be coming back full scale,” he quipped.