Mr. Gerard Brady:

Without naming names, we have already heard from specific members about moving plants to the UK. They are not just thinking about it but are actively looking at it. Diversification is difficult for markets into which a company is not used to selling. They believe it might make sense for them to move and they are also being approached directly by part of the state apparatus in the UK, particularly the Welsh and UK Governments. Market access is the key issue and if there are going to be tariffs for the beef industry there will be moves because it will be impossible to export to the UK, which is our major export market.

We were asked about supports and this goes back to state aid. There is an incredibly tight state aid regime at the moment, namely, a rescue and restructuring aid regime in which a company has to have gone through insolvency before a government can seriously help it. On the question of specific supports, in 2009, as Ms Callan mentioned, the European Union suspended some of the provisions under Article 137 of the treaty in order that Enterprise Ireland and other State agencies could give better support to companies. Companies moving from the UK market and trying to diversify will need support because it can take three or four years to get from A to B. In between, there is a valley of death and this is the big issue for Irish companies. We need to support them through it, particularly in diversification and marketing supports. Some such supports are in place but they need to be ramped up significantly. E-commerce supports are needed for domestic companies, particularly retailers. In 2009, the last time cross-Border shopping was an issue, 20% of Irish people shopped online but that is up by 60% now. The reach of cross-Border shopping was only 40 km from the Border in 2009 but, with e-commerce, it now stretches the length and breadth of the country.

Product innovation is going to be massive in the areas of taste, marketing material and packaging. It all needs to be re-innovated because it is currently targeted at a UK consumer and specific industries, the cheese industry being one, will have severe problems on account of their products being tailored to and only being consumed by the UK. Food companies producing fresh products also will have trouble reaching markets because their produce will not survive longer distances.

Tax is a big issue but that has been mentioned. There will be job losses, no matter what happens and whether there is a soft or hard Brexit. There is already a European Globalisation Adjustment Fund to support workers in Ireland and elsewhere who have become redundant because of the negative effects of globalisation and we think it should be extended to workers affected by Brexit, with retraining and enterprise supports etc.