Ms Marie Armstrong:

The first question was about trying to get some statistics behind the use of the land bridge. A survey of our members, which will be published during the week, shows that 67% use the UK land bridge to access the continental market. It is a hugely significant number. Those members are very concerned about continuing to use the UK in terms of customs and being stopped at borders. They are very concerned that the slow direct route will impact the quality of the product. It is 40% of our members who are worried about that. Over half think it will impact on their overall costs of inventory and other costs. They are very concerned and are actively looking at opening up other routes, namely, new shipping routes. They are looking at which ports have the easiest access to Europe. That is obviously to look at Rosslare and the deep-sea water port in Foynes. Should we be investing in the latter? That is what our members are looking at and they are in discussions with Maersk and other companies to see what they can do. I take very much Senator Daly's point about trying to come back on specifics and Deputy O'Sullivan's point about looking at things positively. Certainly, we would like to come back and look at opportunities, but the use of the land bridge is a concern.