Split between Donegal and Fermanagh, the future of this village hangs in the balance

The video is part of TheJournal.ie’s Brexit Road Trip - watch it in full here • TheJournal.ie’s Brexit...
"If you live in Pettigo on the Irish border, you need a Brexit that keeps it frictionless, and communities connected.”
A tiny village on the border between Co Fermanagh and Co Donegal was name-checked by UK Prime Minister Theresa May in one of her most closely-watched speeches of recent months.
May used Pettigo during her Conservative Party conference speech to stress all voices are being heard and listened to in the Brexit debate, and that the final deal must benefit all parts of the United Kingdom.
Pettigo was referenced alongside Pendle in England’s north-west, Penarth near Cardiff in Wales, and Peterhead in Scotland.
We spoke to some of those people who live in Pettigo as part of TheJournal.ie’s Brexit Road Trip, in which we travelled the length of Northern Ireland’s border, stopping along the way to speak to people about their hopes and fears for life post-Brexit.
Reporting by Nicky Ryan and Gráinne Ní Aodha
TheJournal.ie is an Irish news website that invites its users to shape the news agenda. Read, share and shape the day’s stories as they happen, from Ireland, the world and the web.
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[@bennyrico4205]

what a crazy situation.Ireland my Country should never have been partioned.

[@mcfcfan1870]

Theres no need for a border.

[@jetwaffle1116]

I live there, and if there were a border I don’t think the town would survive. It’s been neglected for years despite all of its potential, but a border presence would be the death of the village

[@noodlyappendage6729]

Yep, neither the UK or the RoI has an appetite for a border.

[@Robbiewa-bg4lu]

I agree.From a United fan as well.

[@mcfcfan1870]

@@Robbiewa-bg4lu 🤝

[@OhEidirsceoil]

@@noodlyappendage6729 lf thats true then why did the brits put one here in the first place n hsvent budged on it in a century

[@merseydave1]

Let us be honest ... this is The Irish Partition line within Ireland ... the only Irish border is the Irish sea!.

[@patmccormack3727]

😊

[@jamesbovington8218]

Am I right that the majority of people in Fermanagh would prefer not to be forced citizens of the UK a relic of the British Empire.

[@OhEidirsceoil]

100% correct. They never wanted it and 100 years later that hasn't changed. But the will of the colonised was never a priority of tge coloniser anywhere throughout history

[@jamesbovington8218]

@@OhEidirsceoil But wasn't Fermanagh included because of a concentration of unionists in Enniskillen?

[@OhEidirsceoil]

@@jamesbovington8218 The majority of nationalists/Catholics was marginally more than that of prods/unionists in Fermanagh and nationalists was also in majority in Tyrone but between those two counties it wasnt deened too much to threaten the survival of a unionist state in Ireland when taken together with the other four being Unionist majority especially Antrim and Down. If they excluded Fermanagh n Tyrone the new "NI" would be pretty sad looking size wise and lack whatever viability and "legitimacy" (if u can call it that😂😂) that unionists feel it had/has

[@jamesbovington8218]

@@OhEidirsceoil Thanks for the clarification. In the end it seems to me that partition was a temporary expedient but that it was never intended for it to be permanent. All sides share some responsibility but in the end Britain should never have tolerated a situation in which a minority of its citizens faced ongoing daily discrimination.

[@olearyma57]

@@jamesbovington8218 Yes to this day there is a pronounced Unionist/ Protestant feel around Enniskillen - Ballinamallard is very atmosperic. Many Fermanagh Unionists at the time of partitition would have influential gentry types who had had control over feeble working class Protestant minds. Uber Empire Loyalist types who were extremely politically well connected to the Conservative Party in GB.

[@joprocter4573]

Charm of place

[@madeyuliani1732]

No border in UK and Ireland from CTA agreements.

[@ST-ur7oh]

Isn’t this the place SF-IRA intended blowing up a BB children’s parade on the same day as the Enniskillen Remembrance Day massacre

[@dobman2011]

No, that was a yearn spun by brit intelligence and lapped up by a willing dublin media.