Mr. Gerry Harrahill:

I thank the Deputy. I will try to pick up on most or all of those. In terms of the distinction between us and the UK, I might invite my colleague, Celine O'Neill, to comment. On the question of engagement, for the past three and a half or four years we have had extensive engagement not just with the haulage sector but with all relevant businesses through a number of fora. First, we have a customs consultative committee which is broadly representative of all of the key stakeholders in terms of customs and customs formalities. That would include the haulage industry, the freight forwarders association, the customs agents and the IT software providers. That is a standing forum that has been in place for probably ten or more years in terms of a formal opportunity for engagement. We have had very productive engagement, including with the Irish Road Haulage Association, through that forum in terms of signalling developments that were coming and plans around development systems and processes so that is in place.

The second element that has happened is that in the closer lead-up to Brexit a number of stakeholder fora have been put in place under the aegis of the Department of Transport. Again, the Irish Road Haulage Association is represented on that. We have had a very positive and productive engagement with the Irish Road Haulage Association. As an example of that, I referred in my opening statement to some of the frustration for hauliers that we recognise in terms of their being caught in the middle. They are moving the goods but they are not necessarily in charge of all the customs formalities.

One of the things that has come out of that is an opportunity for us to be able to give them greater visibility as to what precisely is giving rise to the delay, such as a truck or goods consignment being detained in Dublin Port and Rosslare. That will help in terms of being able to identify it. It is being described as a delay by customs. The other thing that is hugely important is that the processes we have put in place are all designed to try to accommodate two critical requirements from our perspective. One is that we are members of the European Union and are obliged to implement the provisions of the EU customs code which is effectively the legislation that governs the requirements. We want to do that so that the confidence we want in other member states is readily available when Irish goods arrive in mainland Europe, and that we are in full compliance. The second element is to do it in a way that tries to facilitate the legitimate trade. I have spoken at probably 30 or 40 seminars with trade and business. I always start by saying that our primary objective is to facilitate legitimate trade. Everything we do is designed to try to do that. We are trying to get balance with compliance with the legislation and the EU customs code and trying to facilitate trade in the best way possible.

I will ask my colleague, Ms O'Neill, to take the members through the process as some of them have asked about the apparent difference between us and France in the three declarations required.