Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Brexit has frequently and rightly been described as the greatest challenge to the economy in this generation. Despite this, the Irish Government is one of the last of the EU 27 to publish this necessary legislation to deal with the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal. Commencing a Bill that must go through all Stages of both Houses of the Oireachtas with only 11 sitting days left does little to inspire confidence. While nobody wanted to reach this position and nobody was advocating a hard Brexit, the facts remain that all eventualities must be prepared for. This was regularly reinforced by ever-changing situations in the House of Commons. The next date for the meaningful vote on the plan negotiated by the UK and the EU is 12 March. If the plan is not agreed, there will be a meaningful vote on 13 March on removing no deal as an option.

If that happens, there will be a further vote on 14 March in regard to a possible extension. Over three days, there are three very different scenarios, which reinforces the uncertainty. It is important this Bill passes and that we have stability in this Parliament. On this side of the House, we have offered the Government space and stability, and the negotiations have only benefited because of this. The Government would do well to acknowledge the maturity and the co-operation of many parties in the House, not just Fianna Fáil, in regard to the support it has received throughout the negotiations on Brexit.

Only yesterday, the UK Government published its most recent paper with the latest assessment on the implications for business and trade in the UK if it leaves without a deal. The assessment concluded that despite significant steps being taken to manage the negative effects of a no-deal Brexit, there are a number of areas where the impact on trade, business and individuals would be particularly significant and damaging. That is the UK Government's assessment of leaving without a deal. Given the fact the UK is one of our largest trading partners, this assessment is particularly bad for us. While the Bill is important and while we are supporting it, it will simply mitigate against havoc but it will not protect from the immediate and detrimental effects a no-deal Brexit will have on our economy.

There is no previous history of a country voluntarily leaving a trading bloc such as the EU. However, Brexit forecasts from the ESRI for the short term show a 1.4% decrease in our GDP and the Central Bank says that could be anything up to 3%, and, for the long term, the ESRI forecasts the decrease could be 3.8% and the Central Bank suggests 6%. One thing that is for sure is this is going to have a negative effect on our economy, and will result in the loss of jobs and revenue and a potential reduction in services.

While we are happy to facilitate the passage of the Bill and we think it is in the national interest, its delayed publication calls into question the general preparedness of the Government. Not only that, but the €25 million Brexit loan scheme announced in October 2017 has yet to be opened up. Only €17.3 million of the €300 million available overall under that scheme has been drawn down, and only 400 of the 600 customs staff will be in place by 29 March. A lot more needs to be done.

Part 9 of the Bill deals with the validity of pilot exemption certificates. Given we are an island nation and given how much of our exports move through our ports, that is welcome. However, the critical issue for hauliers and exporters of goods is not whether pilots and ships' captains have the exemption certificates as outlined in the Bill. The critical issue is the possibility of increased transit times due to traffic congestion at our ports and sanitary and customs checks. Some 38% of our unitised exports to the EU go through the UK landbridge. Irish operators must travel under the common transit convention to get access to continental Europe and to avoid import-export procedures. This is reliant on tracking where and when the load enters and exits the third countryen routeto member states. If the UK, as its Government suggests, will not have transit offices in place, how is France or any other EU country going to accept Irish loads using the landbridge? This has the potential for further long delays. It is inevitable that the landbridge will become slower and less viable.

The Government has failed to take the opportunity Brexit has provided in regard to improving Rosslare Europort. In September 2016, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, confirmed by way of a reply to a parliamentary question that the unusual legal status is inhibiting further port development and he reaffirmed this in May 2018. Now, however, when asked about the development of Rosslare Europort, he does not think the ownership structure is inhibiting it in any manner. The bottom line is that very few people want turkeys on St. Stephen's Day. If people are buying turkeys on St. Stephen's Day, they are doing so at a knockdown price. It is imperative that Irish exporters get Irish goods to the markets on time. There is no point getting goods to the markets the day after the markets finish trading. The quickest way to get Irish goods to the European markets is through the Rosslare to Cherbourg route. When asked in regard to ensuring we have adequate capacity on that route, the Minister responded that he is confident the shipping sector will respond to any potential demand. There will be demand and there needs to be a response now. The House will forgive me for saying I do not have confidence in the Minister's assurance, given it was he who was confident we would not have a drone situation at Dublin Airport - he said that in January of this year and we know Dublin Airport closed for 30 minutes last week due to the sighting of a drone. The reassurance of the Minister does very little to reassure hauliers and the businesses that rely on our hauliers that their goods will get to the specific market on time.

The hauliers also have a concern in regard to the back-up of time and are worried about inadvertently falling outside the required hours under the working time directive. I hope there will be a common sense approach to dealing with this. A common sense approach is also needed in regard to dealing with the issue of tachograph hours because, in certain instances, people may extend beyond what is required. It is an important issue.

As we know, green cards will be necessary to prove the holding of motor insurance. In the event of there being no deal, green cards will be needed for anyone driving from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland or Britain but there is not nearly enough publicity in this regard. Only today, we had a presentation in the audiovisual room and we discovered that staff working for the Oireachtas who are from Border counties, who we would have imagined would be aware of this, were unaware. There needs to be greater publicity in this regard, in particular given the penalty is the automatic impounding of the car. Of course, Article 8.2 of the motor insurance directive would allow a post-Brexit UK to remain in a green card-free circulation area.

To conclude, there are many issues that need to be addressed from the point of view of ensuring the haulage sector is supported, and it needs to be supported in order to get our goods to the market in an efficient and timely manner. If we do not do this, we will exacerbate the problems even further for those who rely on mainland European markets.

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