麻豆约拍

How will the imminent departure of the UK from the European Union affect cross-border trade in Ireland? Laurence Knight reports from an island that fears it will be divided once again - this time by customs and immigration controls - as Northern Ireland is pulled out of the EU.

Aidan Gough of cross-border government agency InterTradeIreland spells out the uncertainties now facing thousands of businesses that have grown used to a border with no controls at all over the last two decades.

Author Garrett Carr describes the nostalgia evoked when he walked the entire length of the border last year, including memories of smuggling - a problem he fears could now return.

Laurence also speaks to two businesses either side of the frontier - Peter Richardson of engineering firm McAree in the Irish Republic, and Northern Irish dairy farmer William Irvine - who both hope that the UK and EU can avoid reimposing trade tariffs when they negotiate Brexit over the next two years.

(Picture: "Border communities against Brexit" sign by a road leading to the border in County Monaghan, Ireland)