Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

I thank the Chairman for saying that because I know it will mean a lot to people who have put in tremendous effort in recent years. We now have an extra 250 people at ports and airports who are doing things we never did before. All kinds of infrastructure have been built, as Deputy Verona Murphy mentioned. It has been a monumental task. It is not over yet because until now, the UK has not applied any controls on the way into the UK. There have been three false dawns in that regard and we have worked closely with sectors to tell them what is required and to warn them there will be new friction in trade with Great Britain. Three times, the UK has pulled the plug and decided not to proceed with controls.

It has now published the new certification rules and we are trying to evaluate them at the moment. They are to apply from October. My understanding is that from October, the UK will not be checking certificates on the way in but from April next year, it will start doing checks on Irish produce coming in. We are working through the UK proposals at the moment.