Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply.

I was happy to attend the very well-organised conference in Thomond Park in Limerick, which was quite successful and at which there was a good turnout. With the increased threat of a hard Brexit, I am very concerned about businesses that depend on using the land bridge through Britain for goods going to and from the Continent. According to the data from the Copenhagen economic report, two thirds of Irish exporters make use of the British land bridge to access continental markets. This is particularly true of our food exporters and importers, and they are vulnerable on this specific route as travelling to the Continent by sea is two to three times longer and consequently is not viable.

There is now a real risk that Britain will crash out of the EU with no deal. Are there any specific plans to deal with the land bridge issue? Has the Department looked at solutions such as bonded warehouses in Britain or additional freight ships that could cater for some of the non-perishable goods?

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