Mr. Aidan Flynn:

To paraphrase "Star Trek" the supply chain will go on but not as we know it. That is the reality of Brexit.

In terms of understanding of what we discussed about the complexities of the integrated supply chain, indeed for all-island trade, it is vital in terms of movement of people over and back across the Border, through importing raw ingredients or parts for goods that are then exported and so on. As Mr. Carr said, agrifood in particular will be heavily impacted upon by future arrangements, particularly in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Over 60% of goods consignments coming into the ports include some sort of food. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's advice to industry would be preferably to have one product, one load. The reality is that just-in-time logistics are reliant on groupage where operators would effectively describe having the kitchen sink on a trailer. Indeed there could be 200 or 300 products on the back of a trailer. The new environment requires them to have safety and security declarations that could cost €40 or €50 per declaration. The added cost to industry and business on that point alone is phenomenal.

I had a meeting today with insurance underwriters for carrier's liability insurance. Another complexity particularly for perishable goods would be significant delays at ports that are out of the control of the haulier. The new trading environment dictates that the haulier and the consigner or consignee need to have very robust partnership relationships, new contractual arrangements perhaps. All of these things should be forming part of the contingency planning. In the instance of a haulier being significantly delayed, it is easy to understand that perhaps the consignee would transfer responsibility for the load to the haulier and perhaps withhold payment for the delivery. They might say they could not accept it because it is perishable, there is a reduced shelf life and all that type of thing. These are realities where businesses need to build trust within their supply chain and have new types of conversations about the reality of the situation. Carrier's liability insurance does not necessarily cover that. Consigners need to have cargo insurance to be able to deal with those type of things. These are real issues that will inevitably arise because of all the multi-agency checks in terms of efficiencies.

As stated earlier, this is going to be a learning experience. One would expect that there would be a pragmatic approach taken for sure, but there are obvious issues. Colleagues of mine spent a day going over and back between Dover and Calais yesterday with a main shipping operator on a trial run. Some 10% of the throughput at Calais is Irish-registered business. It is significant. Calais is quite concerned at losing that business should the landbridge become unviable. As Mr. Carr mentioned, there is undeniable opportunity and we have submitted proposals under the realignment of the Mediterranean TEN-T proposal in terms of trying to link Irish ports with more continental ports. The other reality for the international haulage sector is that business may become untenable because there is an automatic shift from that landbridge to direct routes. They cannot put a driver on a ferry for 40 hours. It just does not work out. That is why there is a shift to unaccompanied transport and so on.

On customs and training, one of the great pleasures I had in the past couple of years was to be involved in a programme called the logistics associate apprenticeship. We are linked in with Technical University, TU, Dublin's school of management in Aungier Street as the lead proposer. We had 90 apprentices start the programme last week, 70 or so in Dublin and we have started it in Cork Institute of Technology, CIT. Customs is a module on the programme. Also very welcome is the clear customs arrangement where there is support for a significant five-day customs training programme. However, to become a customs agent or broker requires years and years of education. That is the quandary we find ourselves in as regards the aid and support we need for that.

Another issue concerning drivers is that we found 30% of international drivers do not hold Irish passports. That could create problems under the common travel arrangements in terms of accessing the UK. There could perhaps be additional checks which is of concern to us. Again as part of an operator's contingency plan, these are all real issues that need consideration. There are over 200 transport managers in Ireland who have a UK-issued transport managers certificate of professional competence, CPC, qualification. Those guys need to start the process of getting an EU or Irish-issued transport manager CPC so they can continue to fulfil their duties after the Brexit date.