Mr. Liam Lacey:

We have had recent conversations with authorities, particularly in the French embassy, following up on developments in Calais. That happened within the past two weeks. We were reassured that progress was being made and that preparations were in good order. There was a degree of confidence expressed to me about the ability of Calais to respond. It is important to differentiate between new systems that are being put in place that are going to have teething problems as they are unfolded, and the long-term effectiveness of these systems. There is no question that on day one there is going to be significant disruption. I have never seen port development or new systems being introduced that did not cause that problem initially. With time, practice, and readjustment, and given the necessity to make these things work, we can be more confident that these issues can be resolved than the Deputy is expressing. It is in the interests of all parties to resolve them. In the end, if one is introducing barriers to trade, customs inspections, and health inspections and so on then it is going to take longer to progress through a port. This is a fact that has to be accepted. Although all of these attempts are made to mitigate those effects through technology and the introduction of new systems, it is the case that with these new procedures it is going to take longer to progress through ports.