Dr. Pat Ivory:

I will take up the point concerning relations with other business groups across Europe and the degree of solidarity that exists regarding the current situation. I was in Helsinki this time last week for a meeting of the council of presidents of Business Europe. In addition to the formal meetings of the council of presidents, we also had a number of bilateral meetings with key strategic business partners. I am pleased that there is strong solidarity from European business. We all continue to support the acceptance of a withdrawal agreement with a transitional period attached. The political declaration is a part of the withdrawal agreement and there is further room for manoeuvre and negotiations on that element of the withdrawal package. There is no sign of any business group in Europe moving away from that position. There is very strong support for the backstop and that being part of the withdrawal agreement.

As well as meeting with our business partners, in the past few weeks, we have also met the European Commission's Brexit task force and the European Council's Brexit unit. The clear message from all of those meetings is that the withdrawal agreement will not be reopened for negotiation. On that basis, our advice to members is that they cannot rely on the impression sometimes given in the UK that a new Prime Minister will simply be able to reopen negotiations and arrive at a different deal. Our view is that the deal on the table is a good deal. There is no sign of the European Commission, the European Council or the Government moving away from that position. Our advice to our members, therefore, is that the possibility of a no-deal scenario has increased and we need to continue to deepen contingency planning for that outcome.

One of the questions Senator Craughwell asked concerned the preparedness of businesses. Our view regarding contingency planning is that much of it has been done by large companies. Much money has been spent on that contingency planning. The European Commission has also published many documents on such planning and our own ports and infrastructure have taken significant steps in this regard.

Customs and Revenue have taken significant measures in contingency planning. Despite all the best efforts of the authorities and business, it is our view that nothing can prepare for the catastrophic economic impact of a no-deal Brexit. In this context, we believe further measures are required and we have said this to the Commission and the Government. At Commission level, there is a need for agreement on personal data flows and exchange. While an adequacy agreement will be negotiated between the UK and EU, there should be a moratorium and freeze period during which data can still flow across borders. Otherwise we do not understand how business is going to operate. We cannot change labelling overnight and there are many other compliance issues. There has to be a compliance trajectory and period after a no-deal Brexit when a sensible approach is taken to enable business to keep going.