Mr. Niall Cody:

I could not come in here and rule out something forever. It is not in my authority. Before the Single Market in 1993, there was a process around Border controls. The Union Customs Code, and developments in customs and in the World Customs Organization, which Mr. Harrahill could talk at length about, have evolved significantly. With every year we are moving towards a more IT-based customs framework but there are particular challenges. The previous time I was before the committee, Senator Conway-Walsh and I chatted about cross-Border shopping and buying a dress in Belfast; she was buying a dress and I was talking about it. There are particular challenges relating to private consumers and cross-Border shopping because as we went into it on the previous day, there are particular rules for the customs process in that goods with a value in excess of €300 being brought across a land border fall to be presented. That is a particular challenge. What we have focused on is trade - business-to-business - because that is the bulk of the money and the risk. We must remember that the customs duties are a complete competence of the EU. It is its money. We collect it on behalf of the EU. It is a big part of the funding. The key issue for us is ensuring that we collect the proper customs duty which is primarily involved in business-to-business trade. The particular challenge we face is dealing with the areas that cannot be looked after in that business-to-business environment. I regard that as a major challenge and something we need to examine in a context of the common travel area.