Mr. Paul Kelly:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to talk to it today. From an agrifood perspective, we need to see an intense and ongoing focus on cost competitiveness in the face of Brexit. While agrifood is the sector that is most at risk in the event of a hard Brexit, there is a much more immediate impact in terms of sterling. Our analysis shows that a rate of 88p to the euro is the tipping point for agrifood exports and every 1% weakening in sterling results in a 0.7% drop in Irish exports to the UK. A sustained period at 90p to the euro translates to losses of more than €700 million in food exports and about 7,500 jobs-----