John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the biggest delivery companies in the country that will find it is a customs clearance expert after all this is DPD. I declare an interest in that I have an involvement with it. The fact is that it will be the biggest customs clearance company in the country. Last night, for example, 210,000 parcels passed through its system. I am not taking into account DHL, An Post and all the other relevant companies. I am told many of the smaller customers have not geared themselves up at all to be ready for customs associated with Brexit. They are not ready for the responsibility they will have in the chain of the customs clearance process. I encourage the Minister of State and his colleagues to press this sector of business people a little harder because the storage of parcels that cannot be cleared will cause immense problems, including in respect of the delivery of consignments etc. An examination is required at the coalface to make sure arrangements are in place. The bigger companies, such as the one I mentioned, should be encouraged to feed back to the Minister of State some of the data they have and their concerns regarding the Brexit-readiness, or otherwise, of their customers. Action has to be taken to make sure this particular pathway is cleared.