Ms Nicola Byrne:

On the east-west issue, yes this is why we are here. This will be crucial for trade in the future. We do have a 1,000 year history with our nearest neighbour. Like it or not, we are geographically placed where we are. I took the French foreign Minister into a meeting last week and he said to me, rather tongue-in-cheek, "Well Nicola, we are your nearest neighbour, now that they are going, and you only trade €10 billion with us a year, but between us we trade €52 billion with the UK; maybe it is time you looked to France." So I came home panicked and looked up the statistics and said to myself "What the hell, we are trading €10 billion with France?" It turns out that our primary source of trade with France is meat. I realised I did not know anything about French trade. I run a small business and trade in the UK and Ireland and always have done. It never dawned on me that I would have to consider going to France, where I have no relationships, friends or natural contacts. Without the likes of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade building those relationships and opening that ground for us, we will remain behind the curve. Our labour is not affected by languages because we can import it. Our labour is going to be affected by relationships and those we need badly.