As can be seen from our photo, sent to us by a reader, across the border in Ballyconnell the customs huts are already back. 

While the old-fashioned post may be seen as some as simply a quirky protest against the possible return of customs checks, one local councillor has said this throw-back to the past is a visual indicator to the “powers that be” of the serious concerns and anxieties of those living along the border. 

Cllr Barry Doherty, who is from nearby Kinawley, said people are as worried as ever about what will come in the wake of Brexit, and said the continued lack of information on what the border will look like afterwards was exacerbating their concern.

Explaining his own brother crosses the border “four or five times a day” in his job, Cllr Doherty said people relying on political representatives to fight their corner in Brexit, instead of “just saying ‘it’s going to be grand because I said so’.” 

“Wee things like setting up a customs house might appear quirky and humorous and are maybe a reaction to the lack of information out there,” he continued. 

“People will go back to what they have seen before. 

“While we hear it’s appreciated that we don’t want to go back to the borders of the past, those borders may actually be returned to us regardless of what we want.”