Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Monday, 15 February 2021

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union

Impact of Brexit on Trade Connectivity and Trade Flows: Discussion

Mr. John Nolan:

Another failing in the system is that there was no engagement with the hauliers. They were seen to be outside of the customs process because export and import are technically done by agents while the haulier is the carrier. If all is not correct with these processes, however, it is the haulier who suffers. We are always first to know that we are stuck but we are the last to know why. There was no engagement with Revenue from that point of view. Last year, we tried to tell Revenue about this but it did not want to see it our way. I see that as a big failing of the system. Revenue says that it cannot tell us things because of the general data protection regulation, GDPR. That answer is crazy because the goods are on my truck. I know what is on my truck so what is the secrecy about? We know when there is a problem but we do not know why. The agent knows. We have to get on to the agent who then has to fix it, inform us or both.