Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that there is no consideration of any such move within Government that there would be checks on the ports in the EU. I think there may have been some misunderstanding there. There is no consideration for that. Our issue here in terms of checks is in respect of the land bridge between us and the UK. I met Commissioner Vestager, the competition Commissioner, just last week, and discussed with her the challenges that Irish businesses, both SMEs and large firms, will face when the UK leaves the European Union and the need for appropriate and timely state supports. The Commission acknowledged the high exposure of Irish businesses to the UK market. She assured me that the necessary resources at Commission level will be available to facilitate a swift response if urgent action is required by the Government.

In terms of the ports, there is a lot of work going on currently to expand capacity at the Irish ports to address the challenges that are coming down the road for us.

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