Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the committee I welcome Dr. Alan Barrett, director, and Dr. Martina Lawless, research professor, at the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, to today's meeting. I thank them both for making themselves available. We are looking forward to the engagement. Dr. Barrett and Dr. Lawless have done much research in this area for many years. They have attended many Oireachtas committees over the past four years on the topic of Brexit and the potential impacts of a deal, a no deal or a weak deal. It will be great to hear from them post deal to see what their thoughts are.

We are aware that Brexit has had huge implications for the country. We are still feeling our way through that and assessing the impact.

The agenda today focuses on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, in one aspect, in terms of its impact on the Irish economy, businesses and households, but also on an analysis of the wider impacts of Brexit on Ireland and Brexit-related matters. I will hand over to Dr. Lawless to make the opening statement.