Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Brexit - Recent Developments and Future Negotiations: Discussion (Resumed)

10:00 am

Mr. Niall Cody:

It depends. It is a little like Ms Lynch said. One must decide the best way of doing it. The express carriers are a large part of the process regarding how citizens are shopping online. E-commerce covers business to business, business to consumer, etc. There are many aspects to it. Regarding that basic model of the individual shopping online for clothes or whatever else, the volume of goods going through the postal and parcel post system will multiply because, obviously, much of this is sourced through England. What may well happen also is that businesses will set up their distribution hubs elsewhere. Currently, much of this is sourced through, say, Birmingham or wherever else. Some of those businesses will consider how trade is done with EU citizens. That hub could be in Cork.