Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thank you Senator. If the witnesses do not mind, they could provide written answers to Senator Lombard. Unfortunately with Covid, I have a lady here on my left giving out to me and telling me I am breaching regulations.

I thank our guests for attending. We are at a critical time for our industry. They might let us know if there is anything they want us to raise in the new future. This scenario is changing by the hour. As Mr. Carroll noted, we will not really know until 1 January how our industry will deal with the Brexit scenario that emerges. As it stands, a hard Brexit is probably the best outcome we can hope for at this stage and it is very worrying for the whole sector. As I said to the two other delegations that appeared before the committee earlier, there will be an additional €1.6 billion in tariffs, 90% of which will be suffered by our sector. This is deeply critical for our industry. It has never before been at a crossroads like in this, in my memory at least. I thank our guests for participating. We could have spent much longer talking but, unfortunately, with Covid we have time restrictions.

That concludes our proceedings for today. I propose we hold a meeting in private session on Teams at 10 a.m. on Thursday, 10 December to discuss our draft report on forestry and to deal with correspondence issues. Is that agreed? Agreed.