Mr. Kevin Sherry:

I will take the first question, which was directed to me, about UK exports. What we said is that if one goes back to 2005, the percentage of our total exports to the UK was 45%. That was at a time of a much smaller amount than the €20.6 billion we had in 2015. The strategy has been very much focused on trying to lessen dependence on one particular market. Companies that manufacture engineering products are a good example of this. If we go back ten years, engineering in Ireland was primarily an indigenous industry focused on the domestic market. Three years ago, the level of exports from the sector exceeded the level of sales in the domestic market for the first time, so it is now predominantly an export-oriented market. Equally, we have seen transition from companies primarily focusing on the UK markets to Irish engineering companies exporting all around the world, for example, Combilift in Monaghan, which exports its fork-lift trucks to markets all around the globe. We have seen these successfully competing companies cut their teeth on the near market, namely, the UK market, but they have gone global. This is true of a range of sectors. We have put a lot of effort into trying to lessen their dependence on any one market, as a result of which, as I said, exports to the UK have grown substantially. Last year they grew by 12% but they have grown more quickly in other markets. That has been a conscious effort by Enterprise Ireland working with these companies to help them to broaden their footprint and lessen their dependence on any one market. However, the UK being our nearest neighbour and being English-speaking, is and will continue to be a very important market for Irish exporting companies.

One of the switches we will probably see in certain sectors, such as financial services, over the coming years is that rather than the UK being the first export market, exporters might look west. Part of one of the things we are doing with some of these companies now is helping them to consider other markets as their first export markets, given the challenges in the financial services sector and market. However, I would not describe it as a panic on Brexit. What we are seeing is companies looking at the situation and responding to it as it evolves. The short-term situation regarding exchange rates is an immediate matter for them to deal with and we are helping them to respond. As I mentioned earlier, companies that have exports into multiple markets are better positioned than companies that have an awful lot of their export eggs in the UK market. It is therefore different for different companies and sectors. However, we do see exports as part of our next four-year plan and we do see exports to the UK growing, as opposed to declining. It is just that we see and will be focused on trying to accelerate growth in other markets, so the relative dependence on the UK will decline.