Mr. Paul McGarry:

It is a significant problem. Even the identification of that one issue, which on one level might not seem to be very significant in the overall scheme of things, shows how complex the situation will be. If one area like that can be identified, another can be. I refer to the tax treatment of people resident in one state but domiciled in another, for example, the UK and France or the UK and Ireland. One can imagine how complex things will get when one gets down to the nitty-gritty of the negotiations. I think we are all hopeful we do not end up with a hard Brexit. I do not think that would be any good for anyone, but I think the preparation we must make is one that assumes a hard Brexit. Anything better than that would be a bonus or a benefit. This is not really a political matter. Rather, it is a legal matter. The noises we are hearing are not encouraging.

From the lawyer's point of view, we are considering Brexit from a few different perspectives. We consider the macro constitutional issues affecting Northern Ireland, citizenship, the Border and the application of the Human Rights Act and the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. These are high principles of constitutional law and consideration. Then there are the practical considerations we outlined earlier regarding enforcement of judgments and difficulties for companies and people trading in and out of the UK and the legal systems and legal advice they will have to get. Then there is a third issue which we have been considering more specifically lately. I refer to the notion that one can market Ireland and use, as Mr. Leonard said, the fact we have all these advantages - a legal system not too dissimilar to the UK's, an English-speaking population, a common law system and the certainty this provides, particularly for Americans who are used to thinking about these things - and that this can then be incorporated by agencies such as the IDA into the sales pitch for all the other clients. As a result, we may end up with more lawyers coming here - we will certainly end up with more business here - and it will not be in anything like the short or medium term for barristers. It will be for people involved in law firms but, ultimately, if businesses and law firms can get their clients to incorporate things such as Irish law into their contracts and transactional arrangements, there will be a benefit down the line for us.

I do not see major problems with the capacity of the system as regards the legal advice at present. Again, that is more a matter for the solicitors' firms but, in our experience, the Irish firms have a very strong track record of providing advice in areas of technical EU law and some of the specific areas that have been mentioned: aircraft leasing, funds, derivatives, and technical and financial services. Similarly, regarding EU laws generally, they have very highly qualified people and there are plenty of very well-trained people coming through the system, so I do not really see there being a problem on a capacity level in providing that. I do not see it as being very different in real terms from the current position in London.