Mr. Niall Cody:

We share a concern about the implications of a no-deal Brexit. The implications of Brexit will lead to significant change in how trade is conducted. I have to be careful in what I say because when I say something it ends up as headlines in various places. The Brexiteers are not right. There will be significant change and what we have to do and what we are trying to do is manage the implications of legitimate trade. In my opening statement I concentrated on how we facilitate legitimate trade. There are significant other challenges that will flow into the future in respect of tackling illegitimate trade but the first concern is to ensure that there are systems in place to deal with legitimate trade.

When I was before the committee in May 2017 I said we were not planning for Border posts in - to cite the Deputy's case - Donegal. We are not planning for Border posts. The Government has indicated that in the event of a no-deal Brexit there will be "difficult conversations" - I think that was the phrase used - with the Commission to work out how the North-South process would work while protecting the integrity of the Single Market and the Union customs code because the integrity of the Single Market is critical to the economic life of the country. There will have to be a declaration process and that is why we have concentrated on scaling up our IT systems to allow traders in the Republic make a declaration and that the declaration process for the import of goods from Great Britain or Northern Ireland will have to flow from leaving the customs union. That is the process.