NI firm asked eligible staff to apply for Irish passports

A firm that employs 500 people in Cookstown, County Tyrone, has asked eligible staff to apply for Irish passports.

C&D told BBC News NI it is part of their "Brexit contingency planning".

The company manufactures wet processing equipment for industries including mining, sand and aggregates, waste recycling and environmental sectors.

They have processing systems in a number of countries around the world.

"It's merely just part of our Brexit contingency planning in case there is a no-deal Brexit," C&D's finance director, Colin Trainor, told BBC News NI.

"At this stage, it's difficult to see how Brexit will bring any benefits to businesses so we are doing whatever we can to minimise the disruption due to Brexit to the free movement of our goods and people within the EU."

The UK is scheduled to leave the European Union on 29 March.

The Irish Times, that first reported the story, also reported that company is intent on making sure weaker sterling works to its advantage by going after more export sales.

"This contingency planning is taking up time that should be spent on growing our business and achieving our strategic goals," said Mr Trainor.

"Instead, we are undertaking activities such as determining the most-favoured nation (MFN) import tariff rates for the countries we sell to, and thinking about how we will physically get our exports to customers around the world without going through the UK to avoid any potential gridlock.

"We also have a decision to make around whether we need to purchase additional stocks of components by mid-March so that our production won't be impacted due to any slowdown of goods clearing UK customs."