Professor Philip Lane:

I have no doubt that it has to be the case. Any sensible major firm considering a location decision in which the competition is between the UK and Ireland will, I am sure, stall for a few months. I would say the number one issue is delay. The uncertainty is going to delay decisions about projects. I think we are seeing sterling weaken in recent weeks, which is partly the result of speculation as a hedge against the Brexit risk. As for what happens after that - whether firms decide to come here instead of the UK and so on - there are a lot of different scenarios. It is hard to make strong predictions about it.