Ms Ann Marie Part:

Sorry, this is Ann Marie Part from the HSE. I wish to mirror some of the things Ms Sheridan has raised. I will address some of the queries that the Senators have raised from the HSE perspective

Senator Joe O'Reilly asked about staffing. We were lucky enough to get 142 staff approved, of whom 110 are now working on import control in Dublin Port and Rosslare Europort. They provide a 24-hour service there efficiently and effectively. The numbers of staff taken on were based on our best estimates for the trade that might come through. We hope that we are dealing with it very well at the moment. There is a question mark over businesses reopening and new businesses coming online leading to the levels of trade increasing.

An extra 30 staff were given to us for export certification. As the discussion has touched on, there will be changes in import controls on the UK side from 1 October, and the environmental health service is involved with providing export certificates for certain products and businesses and we want to do everything we can to ensure businesses can trade efficiently and effectively out of the country, as well as coming into the country.

Members have probably gathered that a large amount of work has been done across the agencies at various different levels to get businesses ready. We have been working at a macro level to set out the information that people need. We are also working at an individual level. Recently we set up an individual liaison group with the environmental health service where we identified particular businesses that may have had difficulties in coming through the port. We have been working with them one to one in building compliance and trying to get them up to speed on what they need. Our process is to try to make life as easy as possible.

Senator Wall mentioned the 24-hour period and if the documentation can be submitted to us electronically 24 hours in advance, we can effectively "green route" the products while they are still on the ferry if there are no issues or physical examinations needed. They can come straight into the port clear of HSE controls. That is what we have been trying to do as efficiently as possible. We have certainly been doing our best to work with businesses and we will continue to do that with both importing and exporting.