Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Kelly. I very much appreciate his bluntness in saying it as it is. It has been very refreshing. When he said we are geographically distant and numerically small, that was a nice way of putting it. We punch above our weight, but we also need to recognise that there are limitations. He hit the nail on the head in his remarks.

I apologise for fixating on the issue of flour, which other members have raised. It would have a significant impact on every citizen if the price went up by 9%. Why have we not seen that price increase to date? Is it the case that there is a stockpile? If a derogation is not received, when does Mr. Kelly expect it to impact on the price consumers pay?

He made a point on regulatory diversions and said he had concerns that would happen quite soon and become an ever-increasing problem. This was the conversation over the past four years around the potential for this to happen. In a lot of instances, it was almost brushed aside as something the UK would not do, and even if it could it would not reduce standards or diverge in terms of regulations because it is of benefit to stay aligned even if it does not have to.

Where is that concern coming from in terms of the food and drink sector? Why does Mr. Kelly fear that will happen soon and will become an increasing problem? Is there anything we can do about it? What are the solutions? What should the Government look to do? We will include some of that in our report for the relevant Ministers.

There were a lot of conversations before the end of the transition period about the fact that there was a lot of capacity at ports to travel directly to continental Europe, in terms of roll on-roll off or lift on-lift off, and that there was plenty of opportunity to shift from the land bridge to direct access to continental Europe. Mr. Kelly stated there is no capacity to do that and a lot of exporters are using the land bridge because they have no other choice. Could he give us an idea of the size of the deficit? Is there a lot of demand for extra services? What do we need to do to ensure that any exporter or importer that wishes to stop using the land bridge can get direct access to Europe?

One of the constraints of direct access to continental Europe is goods that are perishable or have a short shelf life. Is there still a difficulty? The travel time is much increased once the land bridge is bypassed and people go straight to continental Europe. It is a slower process.

How are businesses doing? How are they coping? It is early days yet; we are just over a month into a completely new trading environment. Dr. Ivory made the point that adjusting to a new trading environment does not happen overnight. It takes time and we have just started on a long road. As a representative body for businesses in the country, how are Mr. Kelly's members doing?

As a committee, we are assessing the current supports available today from Government for business.

Are they adequate? Are they working? Are they effective? Do they need to be adjusted in any way, or are additional new supports required that are currently not in place? I hope that is not too much. Those are my thoughts and questions on what Mr. Kelly has said.