Mr. Niall Cody:

I was conscious that I was coming here on the day all of this would happen. Obviously, there is a lot of detail in the agreement, but there will also be a lot of detail in giving effect to the agreement as is common in EU processes. Deputy Cullinane is right - the customs union deals with certain parts of it. Before the Single Market was introduced in 1992, there were border controls between all of the countries of the European Union. It was the Single Market that allowed the free movement of goods. I remember it well because I was involved in many of the discussions that took place at the time on VAT; therefore, I am being brought back to a previous time in my career. I spoke about simplification in the context of the Single Market and the customs process. The question will be about regulatory alignment. It may well not be about the customs process and procedures, depending on what the agreement is. We have the lead role for all of the agencies involved in regulatory control; therefore, our IT systems are used to support them, be it the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the HSE. That infrastructure about which I spoke will provide the basis for the management of the process.