Ms Jane Howard:

I have been meeting customers throughout the country and many are facing different challenges. At the larger end, they are in a unique position where they can afford to, in some examples, set up an additional plant in the UK and mitigate the risk. At the very small end, they will be impacted by Brexit as, when, and if something happens and impacts the economy in Ireland. It will impact their ability to do business locally, as a consequence of the economy. There is also the middle group of customers, which is quite a range, but the biggest issue I hear about is not Brexit per se, but a lack of labour, both skilled and unskilled. One hears about it whether in the middle of Dublin, Monaghan, or Cavan. It does not matter where one is, that is one of the main things stopping customers from investing in their business or expanding it, and it worries them more than Brexit.

When one looks at the Brexit scheme, there is a concern about how prepared people are. We have held road shows, and we have also written to customers about the obvious issues. If one has been around as long as I have, one remembers things such as customs and excise and how painful that process is, and we need to make sure people have guarantees in place. When we look at indicators of preparedness, we are looking at things like that. For example, if someone is moving goods and does not have a guarantee in place, perhaps they do not understand that they will need that for goods to move, and then they would need an overdraft.