Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Power for his presentation. Teagasc published a report in June this year on the implications of Brexit and the potential offered by it. The report outlined the worst case scenario as being a hard Brexit with WTO trading arrangements. In terms of the impact on exports from the agrifood sector, the figure given was about €800 million. The best case scenario involved a figure of €145 million. In Mr. Power's opinion, are these figures accurate?

There is also the possibility of the displacement of food imports from the United Kingdom. When they appeared before the committee, representatives of Bord Bia said the nature of the products imported from the United Kingdom was very different from what was produced here; as such, there would not be much of an opportunity for displacement. Does Mr. Power have a view on this and do Bord Bia's views concur with his own?

In his presentation Mr. Power said the tendency of the European Union would be to make the process as difficult as possible for the United Kingdom. However, the European Union has a huge trade surplus with the United Kingdom. For example, Germany has a trade surplus of €55 billion to €60 billion with the United Kingdom. Therefore, it will not really be in Germany's interests to make the process as hard as possible. I am sure this will come into play at some point in the negotiations. I wonder if Mr. Power has any view on that matter also.