Mr. Eugene Drennan:

Of course, there will be a cost. It is weight. Anything that goes by air tends to be the lighter product in the first place. Air would not really attract anything that would be depending on heavy engineering and so forth. Then there is having enough manufacturing in Ireland to be able to support such a service. It has been tried previously, or parts of it have been tried previously, and that proved to be a difficulty. It would definitely be great for Shannon, the mid-west and Ireland if it could be brought forward.

The Deputy asked about Rosslare, on time and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Deputy Mythen referred to it as well, and the traffic line. The fact that the agricultural inspectorate in Rosslare Europort intends to close from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at the height of Brexit is crazy. It should not be allowed happen in a port that is hoping to be a tier 1 port in Europe. It cannot be allowed to happen. Perhaps to sustain 24 hours at the start might be a little high to request, but there definitely should be 16 hours' cover of the agencies in Rosslare to keep it going. In addition, Rosslare may not cause as much trouble as Dublin due to its nature and the road network around it.

The parking area for some of the agencies is limited. They intend there being a quota status from the port up to whatever agency you have to call to, but if they do not take the trucks in quickly, as we are on split break, we have to go on break. Then we have to stay in the port and we will block up Rosslare port. These are the issues the State agencies have to take account of.

Likewise, Customs, if its officials have anything like a seal check and a slight paperwork check to conduct, should do them quickly, not as if they will "get around to you when they are ready". If one is on the lesser of the checks, these should be done quickly. They should keep them moving.

There was also a reference to the information technology. I referenced it previously. They have put in a lot of investment and upgraded the IT here but the systems are not talking to the systems in the other countries. Whatever is needed to be done, whether they need a separate system running beside it, a way of uploading it or agreement from us that they can upload it by clicking a box and ticking a form, it should be done.