Mr. John Callinan:

Mr. Irwin may have more than me to say on this issue. The Department's overall approach is that for goods travelling through the United Kingdom - whatever the percentage, it is a substantial proportion - we want to continue with an arrangement that is as close as possible to the current one. If the United Kingdom will be a third country from a customs point of view, there are transit provisions that could be operated to minimise, albeit not entirely eliminate, disruption.

If I understood the Senator correctly, the second issue he raised is separate. He referred to a UK company selling into the European Union which would, post-Brexit, potentially face tariffs and might, therefore, choose to relocate some of its activity to Ireland or another EU country. We have a very successful story today of companies from the United State locating in Ireland. In that sense, as long as companies do this in full compliance with EU and Internal Market rules, the scenario presented by the Senator would be an option for a UK company that wished to trade into the European Union. However, it would not be possible to somehow move goods into Ireland and then move them using a transit procedure to avoid tariffs.