THE people of Fermanagh’s border areas must “band together” and “sit tight” in the wake of last Friday’s devastating result in the EU referendum. 

In villages such as Belleek and Roslea, the now impending Brexit is at the forefront of people’s minds, with anxiety and concern growing as the uncertainty of what will come next continues. Yet, in true Fermanagh fashion, few are despairing quite yet, instead looking to how to move forward. 

Pauline Gilmartin of Gilmartin’s Craft Shop in Belleek said the village had “just had a weekend of mourning” but the mood on Monday morning had been more about “how we can now move on.” 

“All weekend we were saying, ‘this isn’t happening’. No one saw this coming,” said Ms Gilmartin, who said people were very uncertain about what the future will bring. 

“There’s no way out of it now, though. We just have to sit tight. They’re saying it could be 2019 before anything really happens.” 

Ms Gilmartin said “it all depends now on the strength of the Government” that will be formed in Westminster. 

“We have been through tough times before and we came though them, we can face anything,” she added. “We have to band it together. The people have spoken and we have to accept it. It will be a bumpy ride. 

“We just wish we had a crystal ball and could look into next month or next year.” 

Seamus Carolan, who runs Roslea Enterprise Centre, said the people of the south Fermanagh village were “generally aghast” at Friday’s result, but also said, like in Belleek, they would come through the tough times. 

“There is a lot of uncertainty, particularly with the regard anything cross-border,” he said. “We’re still coming to terms with it, and we don’t know what the full ramifications will be. 

“The sun’s still going to get up tomorrow morning, though. Roslea folk are a stoic type of people.”

Mr Carolan too said the result was very unexpected, and said “a lot of options need to be looked at.” 

He said the result could even lead to a united Ireland eventually, adding the referendum had “opened a can of worms”, and joked that because the border counties of the north had voted remain, with the northern central counties such as Antrim voting to leave “the border should be redrawn around them.”

“Personally I think what will happen is there will be a general election and we’ll get a prime minister who wants to stay,” Mr Carolan added hopefully.