Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Senator asked his question because it allows me to be very blunt and honest with people that on 1 January, everything will change. I mean that the UK will be no longer be in the customs union and the Single Market. Legally it is out and there is no legal mechanism to extend the transition period. That time has passed.

At different stages there has been a lot of marching the army up to the top of the mountain and back down again about Brexit. This time, there is no extra time, which every business needs to understand. There are about 100,000 businesses in Ireland that either trade with or through the UK, which is a lot of businesses in a country of 4.5 million people, and about 200,000 people are employed in that trading relationship. There are about 40,000 businesses that trade with the UK regularly, that is, something like once a fortnight. In some cases, such as supermarket chains and so on, it is every day. All of our data indicate that the vast majority of the businesses that trade regularly with the UK are gearing up to be as ready as they can be in terms of having a customs number. They are gearing up to make sure that they can do the customs declarations that they need, the processes, the sanitary and phytosanitary or SPS checks and all of the other things but there will be some that will be caught out and we need to help those companies.

Let the message not go out that there will be a period of flexibility for three or four months to allow everybody get in shape. I do not believe that is where we are going to be. That is why I think there will be a lot of disruption at the start of January, particularly in the UK and in ports where our hauliers may get caught up in the disruption. That is why we have placed a big emphasis on direct ferry routes between Rosslare and Dublin Port, primarily, but also Cork and other ports. Last week alone, a new Port of Cork to Zeebrugge service was announced and a Rosslare to Dunkirk daily roll-on, roll-off service was announced. The capacity on the existing direct ferry links between Ireland and the rest of the Single Market through mainland Europe has had less than a 50% uptake. We are ready for a big shift over on to direct ferry routes should that happen. I think we can deal with that capacity if it happens. If we have to have extra capacity, the ferry companies have made it clear that they can shift capacity off the Irish Sea to the direct ferry routes, should it be necessary. As the UK land bridge is still the fastest way in principle to transport goods to and from mainland Europe, we would like to continue to do that but of course we must avoid disruption and delay should that happen in early January.

I hear what the Senator said about state aid. If we can get a deal, then state aid is not going to be a problem because it will be part of the level playing field negotiation. If we do not get a deal and if the UK decides to use state aid, beyond what the EU is allowed to do, to create a competitive advantage for itself, then that has consequences in the context of a trading relationship that continues to have tariffs and other disruptions, which is regrettable if that is where we go.

In responding to disruption, the EU will allow some flexibility in the application of state aid rules in Ireland. If we had to put a package together to support the beef sector, for example, I would be surprised if there were a problem around state aid limitations to keep people in jobs and give families incomes. We will access as much of the €5 billion Brexit adjustment fund as we can. It should not be forgotten that this is a fund for the whole EU. Ireland will have the strongest case and, I hope, secure more of the fund than any other country. I am pretty confident we will, and rightly so given our vulnerabilities.

A number of Senators asked about the future bilateral relationship with the UK. It is really important. The offices of the Taoiseach and UK Prime Minister have been talking about that quite actively, and I suspect we will hear a lot more about it early in the new year. What we previously considered with the British Government was having an annual British–Irish intergovernmental conference or summit, alternating between Britain and Ireland every second year and involving at least half a dozen, if not ten, Ministers plus the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach. This would force in being circumstances in which senior civil servants would have to compare agendas on areas of common interest on which they could work together, whether it was transport, climate change, foreign policy, development aid or marine protection areas. There are dozens of such areas on which the UK and Ireland should be working together to their mutual benefit. It is important that we have time to get to know our counterparts in the British Government so we can build relationships of the kind that can keep the British–Irish relationship strong and intact. We are simply not going to meet the British at EU meetings anymore. They are already gone. If structure is not created, it is very hard to build relationships that will last or exist in difficult times when we need to find solutions.

I have probably answered most of Senator Joe O'Reilly's questions. We are going to try to replicate, as best we can, the cross-border healthcare directive to make sure cross-Border healthcare continues to be facilitated on the island of Ireland. Regarding the consequences of reintroducing Part 5 of the Internal Market Bill, we have probably addressed that issue in making reference to the grace period.

Senator Ó Donnghaile raised the issue of an office or one-stop shop in Northern Ireland to facilitate many of the services required. I am aware that he has been raising the issue of a passport office for the North. The number of passport applications has been tiny this year by comparison with last year because nobody is travelling. There has not been much demand but I suspect that when people start travelling next year, many will realise that since they have not been travelling this year and have therefore not looked at the expiry dates on their passports, their passports will have expired. When they look at them, they will see they are out of date.