Mr. Paul Clancy:

From members' perspective, which is what we represent today, I do not think anybody wanted the protocol. Nobody wanted Brexit in the region, for starters. It is the journey we are on together. It is not where we would have started from but it is the situation we are in.

The feedback from members is that the protocol is an obstacle for many reasons related to paperwork and cost. It is hard to identify that because other things have been going on in the global economy because of Covid. There is a challenge in understanding what is and is not a contributor to the additional cost. We have issues regarding HGVs, transport, fuel costs and there is a global issue there. It is hard to pinpoint if the protocol is the issue or not.

The feedback from our members is that having this unfettered access is a golden opportunity that should not be missed. Many people are prepared to say it privately but maybe not publicly because they want to carry on with their business and work through it. They see the opportunity and are taking conversations with people they may never have worked with before because they need new supply chains and things like that as a consequence of many GB businesses not being prepared properly. That created a vacuum and they had to look for alternative supplies. Now they are working with different people and have created relationships. That falls out into the Central Statistics Office and the flow of goods north and south of the Border.

There are many benefits but it is challenging. I do not know if there is an alternative solution. When you speak to everybody they say this is the only thing we have and we need to make it work. From members' perspective, we are looking at the day-to-day running of business and they are getting on with it, dealing with the issues and working through them. In the main it has been positive for them so far in terms of being able to access both markets unfettered. It is a good place we are going to, we hope, if we can get stability.