Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise the issue of connectivity. Yesterday, I raised the aviation sector with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. There are very particular challenges there, as the Minister will be well aware. This morning, we heard from Mr. Eugene Drennan, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, and Mr. John Martin, the policy manager for haulage association in the North.

They share the same concerns, albeit from geographically different perspectives. They stated that trade will be severely upset because of Brexit and the price of some goods could double. They stated the impact will be significant and that they have been warning about it for two years. Systems that were promised and planned are not in place either here or in Britain. On the British side, customs agents have not been recruited and the goods vehicle management system, GVMS, and Smart Freight IT system are not in place. There is a threat - it is to be hoped that is all it is - that there could be queues of up to 7,000 vehicles at ports in Britain. Our own systems are not up and running. There is no contingency planning. There are approximately 800,000 to 1 million movements of units annually between Ireland and Britain alone. It is a massive challenge.

I am sure I do not have to tell the Minister about the strategic importance of connectivity for us as an island nation. This morning, the two spokespersons to whom I referred addressed the issues of surety of service, timelines, just-in-time delivery and the whole logistics operation on which so much of our economy and livelihoods depend. They spoke of the need for an alternative route bypassing Britain and going straight to the Continent. What I wish to emphasise is that we have only a few months to prepare and, as the saying goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. The window of opportunity is very limited. Every effort must be made to put the required systems in place. I refer to the three-step system that has been promised on this side because the obvious consequences on 1 January and thereafter are spectacular and need to be avoided at all costs.

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