Mr. Simon McKeever:

No. It will be extremely challenging. We are kind of at the beginning of a process where these things will have to be discussed and put out and then a solution that will work put together. I guess what is happening is that we do not really know what the conditions will be. At the same time, we are trying to devise a solution to a challenge, the nature of which we do not really know. Suffice it say that the volumes and the frequency make it very challenging. For all involved, it will be very challenging.

Another thing that we need to be cognisant of is that, notwithstanding the fact we have to deal with the United Kingdom in the future and that we have to come up with new solutions, the world does not begin and end with the United Kingdom. I make that point because our export figures are very impressive. I think we said there would be €117 billion in merchandise exports this year. However, if we strip out the exports of perhaps ten or 12 multinationals from that, what is left is not really that impressive in the sense that it is over-reliant on traditional markets, particularly the United Kingdom, other countries such as the United States, and near European countries. We have been making the case for many years, before Brexit was ever a likelihood, that SME Irish exporters need to diversify their markets. However, as Britain was there, was easy, is big and so on, people said they agreed but they did not do a lot about it. There were some exceptions, of course. However, we now have to start looking beyond and need to begin to diversify.

Think about countries such as Morocco which has 35 million people, a growing economy and a front onto the Atlantic. It will be a major hub and market in itself. Think of a country like Mexico. Our trade with Mexico skyrocketed over recent years, although it has stabilised quite a bit recently. Think about countries such as Indonesia and Colombia. These countries are open for business and are growing. They have huge requirements that we can satisfy, but we have not really been able to step up. If we strip out the multinationals and compare our export figures with our peer competitors, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland, they export something like 20% or 25% of their volume to developing markets or, if one likes, exotic or unusual markets. Our figures are in single percentages, so we have a huge job to do but a huge opportunity at the same time.