Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the questions to put to me, Deputy Michael McGrath's interpretation of the amendment is correct. We will be making a decision and triggering what we are going to do when we are clear on what the United Kingdom is actually going to do. On Deputy Pearse Doherty's question, what the UK has said publicly so far is that it is not be planning to bring in a duty free scheme.

The UK will have to legislate to deliver that objective. That is why I am introducing an enabling provision whereby, in the event of that happening, the Government can respond with a commencement order. The UK's view, as publicly stated to its Parliament, is that it is not planning to introduce a duty free scheme. That would require legal change. I am just introducing a precautionary measure to deal with that.

Regarding the question of whether there has been other engagement with or contemplation by other member states on this matter, as far as we are aware, there has been little consideration of it because it is not as much of an issue for other countries as it is for us, given the volume of passenger traffic between the UK and Ireland.

As to the question on Northern Ireland, we anticipate that this scenario can only develop at ports and airports. Currently, we do not judge the duty free consequences of this measure across the Border as significant. That is one of the many reasons we believe we are better off having in place the legal ability to allow us to respond to different issues that may arise.

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