A DUP Mournes councillor has blamed Brexit for causing a Northern Ireland workforce shortage. / Newry, Mourne and Down District Council agreed a motion this week to seek extended UK working visas for EU citizens from six months to two years.

The Northern Ireland mushroom industry will disappear unless migration rules are relaxed, an industry body has warned.

Local farms and businesses are finding it very difficult to find staff thanks to the restrictions imposed by Brexit.

The Mushroom Growers Association said farms in the north have been left in “a desperate situation which is not of their making”.

Co. Offaly mushroom farmers whose 30-year-old business was devastated almost overnight in 2016, due to the UK’s decision to pursue Brexit, have found light at the end of a different kind of mushroom tunnel.