Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The introduction by the UK of the internal market Bill seems, to most sensible observers, the final act of madness in the bizarre handling of the withdrawal negotiations by the Johnson Government. To admit openly the intention of a sovereign government to break an international agreement in the midst of trying to negotiate a new agreement, for most of us, simply beggars belief. The unified reaction from the European Union, together with the very strong, sane voices that emerged from within the British political system, not only from the opposition benches but from distinguished former Prime Ministers in the UK, coupled with the clear warnings from Washington, at least from the non-Trump political part of Washington, seems to have somewhat halted the incredible gallop of the Johnson Government to the unthinkable.

I used to watch Fox News to get a glimpse of alternative America. It used to rise my blood pressure but I thought it was a good learning curve. I also, in similar fashion, occasionally read some of the Tory newspapers to have some understanding of the parallel universe inhabited by the most fervent Brexit cultists. I have to say the commentary is as depressing there as it is unreal and disconnected from any sense of reality. Some of the headlines read, “The EU is about to collapse”, or “Barnier is instructed by Germany to yield”. It is an incredible parallel world, but we have to understand it. Who knows what the next stage will be for the madness of King Boris? He may well cut a fair deal yet and abandon all that has gone before: that is not unthinkable. However, from our perspective, we must prepare for the inevitable, in my judgment. Maybe it is not inevitable, but I think we have to prepare for a hard Brexit.

I know significant preparations have been undertaken and that real work has been done across government in a way that is not paralleled in Britain and I absolutely acknowledge that. However, there is one area which is of deep concern to me and that is our ability to export and import to continental Europe in the immediate aftermath of 1 January. There is a significant irony that the focus of the British Government is on potential checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain while, now, it has said goods entering the county of Kent will require a special permit to avoid the expected chaos. Last week, the UK Road Haulage Association met with Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove, and his team.

After that meeting, the CEO of the UK Road Haulage Association said that it "fell far short of our expectations." He continued:

The mutually effective co-operation we wanted to ensure seamless border crossings just didn't happen and there is still no clarity over the questions that we have raised. Although I don’t think we are quite back to square one, we are certainly not much further along.

After the same meeting, the chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation of the United Kingdom said, "There is no point pretending it’s going to be smooth – we are heading for major delays and disruption – systems are not ready, processes are unclear". Last week the BBC described the same meeting between the UK Road Haulage Association and the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Mr. Gove, as a "washout". The Road Haulage Association said that it got no clarity from the minister on how border checks would operate after the transition period. Amazingly, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said the same meeting had been constructive.

British hauliers believe there will be long tailbacks at ports and significant disruption to supply chains. Other Members have already referenced the leaked letter from Mr. Gove in which he acknowledged that there will be monumental disruption to the exit of goods from Britain into continental Europe from 1 January.

What are we to do? I have been saying for a very long time that we need to be proactive in this regard. I have had many discussions with the former Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport and with officials in the Department. Some €240 million remains in our connectivity fund from the €335 million originally included in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF. The land bridge is a very important link for our exports and imports. Some 150,000 Irish trucks use the UK land bridge to export 3 million tonnes of goods to the European Union. That is an enormously exit and entry point for goods. The Irish Road Haulage Association has urged Government to help set up a fast direct daily ferry service to continental Europe for lorries in order to avoid that chaos. The land bridge currently carries 40% of Irish exports and 13% of imports, both in terms of value and volume. That represents €18 billion worth of exports and €3 billion worth of imports.

We need to use the resources in the connectivity fund to prepare, just as we did when the Covid pandemic started. We asked what was the most urgent issue to address, which was, at the time, the preparation of intensive care units and the expansion of intensive care capacity. We should be thankful this capacity was not utilised but it would have been absolutely unconscionable not to prepare for what potentially could have happened when we saw what was happening in other jurisdictions at that stage. Similarly, we need to provide direct links. We are too dependent on the British land bridge.

We are also too dependent on Dublin Port. This week, we saw rationing, or metering as it is called, of trucks into Dublin Port. I obviously have a bias in favour of Rosslare Europort but it is an underutilised resource. There is a very good road network leading to it and, in very recent times, the State has invested significantly in expanding its potential and more investment is ongoing. We need to proactively talk to shipping companies rather than take their word for it that something is going to happen. We need to proactively ensure that there is real competition and real capacity. We need to give an equity stake in new companies or service provision supports for new companies so that, although we will not be able to obviate all the impact of the chaos I believe we will see on 1 January if a deal is not secured, we can mitigate it.

We can mitigate this chaos if we have more direct links, thereby taking trucks off the UK land bridge. We must sign up and support additional ferries and nail down the exact number of vessels existing companies will have available on 1 January, where they will berth, what kind of vessels they are, what capacity they have and at what times they sail. Bluntly, there is currently too cosy a relationship in Rosslare Europort in my home county of Wexford. There are two very important operators there but they sail for the Continent on the same three days of the week. It suits them to do that but we need much more competition. We need to open up those markets. I want the Government to be proactive in this respect because the very first test of the success of our Brexit preparations after 1 January will be our capacity to continue to import and to export goods from this island directly to continental Europe.

I have one clear message for the Government today. I hope the Minister is listening and will take careful note of it. We need to have a very clear understanding of the number of vessels that will be sailing directly from Irish seaports, including what I hope will be a greatly increased number from Rosslare Europort in addition to those leaving the Port of Cork and Dublin Port. These will be direct links to a variety of ports across continental Europe from Spain as far as the Netherlands. I look forward to a comprehensive reply in that regard.

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