Mr. Declan Hughes:

I thank the Deputy and will be sure to leave time for Mr. McDonnell to respond. I assure the Deputy that, as we have discussed previously, the Department has been working since the vote on the referendum and through 2017 and 2018 to try to build resilience into the supply chains, addressing, in particular, areas where there might be vulnerabilities and a reliance on UK suppliers. Our evidence so far is that Irish businesses and supply chains have remained relatively robust over the past ten or 11 months. There have certainly been challenges over the level of preparedness of businesses based in Great Britain relating to their compliance with various requirements. There have also been haulage and logistics challenges. To a large extent, Irish businesses have worked through those challenges.

We did a lot of work on preparedness that related to the shifting of supply chains to allow for more options for local suppliers in Ireland. I am aware, as I am sure the Deputy is, of many engineering businesses that have had to respond to requirements under free trade agreements and rules of origin, and have sourced materials within the EU. They were shifting supplies to the Irish market, continental Europe and the rest of the eurozone. Our focus is in sourcing from the eurozone and the EU, not only in the manufacturing and industrial sectors but also in the retail sector. That was a key focus last year through our retail forum. That resilience was also a focus of the early part of this year.

We have seen changes with some of the larger retailers. They tried to maintain that continuity of supply from Great Britain, but it proved particularly difficult for them. They are working on increasing their sourcing domestically. Bord Bia is working with the retail multiples that are bringing products into the country, and with many others, on the availability of shipping directly into Rosslare from France and on the increase in services there. The fact that continuity of supply has been sustained indicates the extent to which businesses have diverted and changed their supply chains. In some cases, they have rerouted to avoid the UK land bridge where there may be risks. We will continue that into the future. As a result of campaigns such as Enterprise Ireland’s The Irish Advantage, we are seeing an increased level of sourcing from the Irish market to European counterparts and European businesses. There is a strong focus on supply chain resilience, given all the disruptions with shipping and the strategic autonomy discussions at EU level. We will continue to focus on that through the enterprise agencies and by working across government.