Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The physical movement of goods is one issue. That is why we are teasing it out. We are doing this as we are talking. If EEA+ is not a runner because of the benefits for brass plate companies establishing in Belfast - I am talking about financial houses or insurance companies - what is the next best thing in the real world? That is probably not possible. If we scale back, EEA+ would be EEA-, including the all-island energy economy, along with agriculture. There is also the issue of hard goods manufactured in Northern Ireland or the South being traded over and back. We talk about the challenge of maintaining the status quo to the point where it might preclude all sorts of things being done in Northern Ireland in order to have the have the benefit of EEA+ for those who are there as of a certain date. Senator McDowell makes a valid point in that there are certain things the EU will not allow as Frankfurt and Paris might like to pick up much of the stuff coming from London and do not want it going to Belfast.