Dr. Martina Lawless:

I want to come in on the question of Brexit. A lot of work is currently being done on trying to understand what it might mean for Irish businesses and, in particular, the agrifood sector. It has stood out in all analysis, including that of the ESRI and in work on sectoral exposure in the Department of Finance, as being the sector most at risk of being hit.

It is also true that businesses which export a lot to the UK are already being impacted by the fact that the sterling exchange rate has been affected. Most exporters are used to dealing with currency fluctuations to some extent. The concern for exporters now is to what extent this is a more permanent move rather than a standard short-term fluctuation which they have been able to hedge against. In terms of what can be done to aid exporters, we need to ensure funding is available to identify other market alternatives, determine whether some financing has to go into working capital while firms deal with the reallocation and provide some support in identifying where these new markets might emerge.

At the moment, businesses which are importing from the UK are gaining from the exchange rate. There is, perhaps, a limited incentive for some businesses to seek out alternative markets and supply links while they are getting imports at a cheaper rate. There is a balance to be struck in terms of how currency fluctuations impact on businesses.

There is a lot of uncertainty in terms of business planning about what Brexit might mean, when the effects might be felt and so on. This means that the planning process is very difficult for businesses in terms of what new investment they might need to put in place.

On that note, examining other market opportunities is probably somewhat of a no regrets policy for business. If Brexit turns out to be softer than expected, but a business has identified a new market opportunity in France or Germany, that is probably to its overall benefit rather than something that should only be done to replace a lost UK market opportunity.