Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and organisations and I thank them for their written submissions, which are very helpful. I will be brief because I am aware that time is against us.

As for where we are with the preparations for a possible hard Brexit, what are the witnesses' views on whether the actual agri-food industry is prepared for it? Are we prepared to have a dramatic tariff put on beef and on the dairy industry? How prepared are those sectors for finding different markets? We are 25 days away from a doomsday scenario that will probably have the greatest impact on Irish agriculture since the 1950s. How do the witnesses think the food industry is prepared for that doomsday scenario? I have spoken with colleagues of mine in the UK in the past few weeks about the sentiment of the UK market regardless of whether we have a good or a bad deal. Do the representatives have information on the sentiment of the UK customer moving against the Irish product or the EU product? Taking into consideration these dragged-out talks with deadlines moving continuously, there has been great unease within the UK public about this. They have eventually bought in to where Brexit is actually going. Do the witnesses believe there could be a backlash towards the Irish product, regardless of whether we have a good deal or a bad deal? How could such a backlash affect the industry in Ireland?