Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Sinnamon for that most comprehensive opening statement. I will open the discussion to committee members to pose whatever questions may arise from that opening statement and any other areas they might want to touch upon. Following that we might have a back and forth between members and the witnesses. I will leave it to Ms Sinnamon to direct responses from her own team depending on who is best placed to answer those questions.

I will kick it off. Ms Sinnamon mentioned the customs issue. We have been meeting as a committee for a number of months now and we have engaged with the Irish Road Haulage Association, the ports, IBEC, the Irish SME Association and business organisations. The customs issue seems to crop up everywhere as a big issue for businesses, and specifically, the flow of trade in and out of our ports, the additional paperwork, the cost of that and perhaps the lack of expertise. I note from the opening statement that Enterprise Ireland has put in place a customs grant to help companies afford this extra expertise. I would welcome the views of the witnesses on the issue of trade at the ports. We have received complaints that communication between the Revenue, the HSE and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not where it could be to streamline trade coming in and going out of the ports. I am wondering if Enterprise Ireland has come across the same issue with its clients and whether it has engaged with any of the three entities mentioned to try to improve the system for businesses.

As Ms Sinnamon stated in her opening statement, we all accept that things have changed significantly. It is a completely different trading environment. I am most heartened to learn that Enterprise Ireland's recent survey shows that 83% of its clients report that they still have a strategy to grow their exports into the UK. That shows that there is still a lot of positivity among Irish businesses and Enterprise Ireland's clients. Ms Sinnamon touched on the issue of trade not being "normal", if I can put it that way, in the run-up to the end of last year because of stockpiling and Christmas and businesses perhaps getting trade in and out before the rules changed. When that beds down and things settle, is there any indication of what the true picture might be, in terms of a drop-off in trade between Ireland and the UK?

My final question to Ms Sinnamon and her team concerns exploring new markets. The food and drink and agriculture sectors were going to be the most impacted by Brexit. Geographical proximity to market is important. I appreciate that it has been a short enough period, but what success has Enterprise Ireland had in opening up new markets for Irish businesses? How many Irish businesses have successfully made that leap to exporting to new markets?