Mr. Gerry Harrahill:

I thank Deputy Lowry for the questions. I will try to pick up on all the issues he raised. As the director general for customs in Ireland, I am in no circumstances blaming anybody for the challenges we face at the moment. I mentioned in my opening remarks that we are in circumstances that have not arisen since before Ireland joined the European Economic Community almost 50 years ago. While all of us said at various stages that Brexit would be challenging, we now realise it has been challenging, and a bit more to go with it. The only way to deal with the practical difficulties that a number of Deputies and Senators referred to is a collaborative approach involving the State agencies and all the key stakeholders. That is in the interest of everybody whose motivation is to ensure we keep our good standing within the EU at the same time as allowing legitimate trade and business to go ahead.

On the second issue, namely, trialling the system, with the exception of the customs ro-ro service, all the components for import and export to a third country effectively have been in place for many years. What has brought a particular focus with the UK's departure is that our nearest neighbour is now a third country. Therefore, the just-in-time business model that has worked so successfully is severely challenged by the fact that we have trade with a third country right on our doorstep. That has brought some unique features. Many of us who have been involved in this process over recent years probably have been aware of this matter but it is really a case of rubber hitting the road in that regard.

On Deputy Lowry's question on whether we have the expertise and knowledge to handle the systems, the answer is "Yes". We have invested considerable time, energy, expertise and knowledge to ensure we are ready to handle the volumes resulting from Brexit. I remind members that since 1 January, or in the first 21 days, we have processed 668,000 customs declarations successfully. Where we did not manage to process declaration successfully, it was not because the system by and large has not worked but because some of the core information and data have not been available. I am not attributing blame to anybody; I am just saying it is a fact and that there is work we can do in that regard.