Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a fact that an extension must be applied for by 1 July. The UK Government says it does not want to do that. Most people tend to agree that it will take a considerable amount of time to negotiate this agreement. I am speaking about those because they are reasonable points to make. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, appeared before the business and enterprise committee and spoke about the transition period being extended by two years as if that was a fait accompliand was guaranteed. I challenged her on this and she amended what she had told the committee. My point is that the Government is relying on this just happening because the alternative is so bad. We have to have learned at this point that the worst could happen. Professor Imelda Maher from the UCD school of law was before the Joint Committee on Health. She is professor of European law. Addressing the end of the transition period and negotiating a free trade agreement in that time, her written submission stated "The unravelling and redefining of 45 years of union membership is going to take more time than that and unless further extensions are sought, there will be a fall back to WTO rules which will greatly impede trade between UK and the EU (but for Northern Ireland)." Has the Government conducted an economic impact assessment of what the country is facing at the end of 2020 if there is a hard exit by Great Britain?

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