A Donegal businessman who owns a coach hire company on the Donegal-Derry border has urged Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar to sit down and compromise over Brexit.
Reddins Coach Hire is based on the Derry-Donegal border and its boss Don Reddin said it feels like the area is caught in an international “game of poker”.
He told a national newspaper: “It’s a very unstable time.”
Mr Reddin says British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s outright rejection of the backstop and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s refusal to consider changes to the Withdrawal Agreement creates a “mad puzzle”.
And the businessman says local anxiety hasn’t been as high since the Troubles, adding: “You don’t want people’s feelings running higher than they already are.”
Mr Reddin claims a way to break the stalemate and to tackle the threat of a no-deal Brexit must be for both sides to give ground.
He added: “If they leave without a deal, where do you start with sorting that out?
“I understand where Boris is trying to come from, that Theresa May looked like a weak leader.
“It’s all getting hot in the Tory kitchen. By the same token, as far as the EU is concerned they have done their negotiation.”
The coach hire chief added: “If they leave without a deal, how do you sort that out? Where do you start? Transport regulations, all the cross border trading?
“I close my eyes and shake my head in disbelief that they could be jeopardising so much.”
He added: “Both sides are saying ‘this is a red line’ but at some stage or another somebody’s going to have to talk.”
The backstop, hatched between former UK PM Theresa May and chiefs in Brussels, guarantees a seamless border between the Republic and Northern Ireland.
It kicks in only if post-Brexit border trading and security talks fail.
But Mr Johnson says he can’t accept the UK keeping such close formal ties with the EU in any transition period after leaving at 11pm on Halloween night.
The EU position, championed by Mr Varadkar, is that the backstop must be in place ahead of any deal being struck.
That tense face-off means a no-deal Brexit, and the trading turmoil it could spark, is looking increasingly likely just 83 days from the deadline.
Pub owner Pat Britton, whose bar in Pettigo village stands right on the border between counties Fermanagh and Donegal, said the issue was Britain’s to fix.
He sees no reason for UK and Irish leaders to hammer out ideas around the backstop.
Mr Britton said: “It’s nothing to do with Leo Varadkar. The Tories are trying to bully the Irish Government into a position that is their fault.
“It’s not our fight. It’s a fight with Europe. They voted to get out of Europe so it’s their problem.”
