Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In 90 days, the UK will be outside the EU Single Market and the customs union. This is going to have very significant implications for every business that moves goods to and from Great Britain. Even if a free trade agreement is concluded between the EU and UK, there will be significant and enduring change. Not since the economic war of the 1930s will Ireland have been deprived of access to the UK market. We have spent centuries feeding and watering the UK market. It is our nearest market and the one we depend on and trade with the most. Businesses large and small are going to be impacted. If we do not act to shield vital employers and producers in the economy from the shock of a no-deal Brexit, the economic situation our country finds itself in is going to become a lot more troublesome.

I give an example of a large industry in my own constituency of Tipperary. Other Deputies have businesses in their own constituencies facing similar problems. Bulmers is a very big company in Clonmel, south County Tipperary and the south east region. It is a major employer in our area and Brexit is a major threat to the economic viability of this County Tipperary-based operation going forward. Bulmers' parent company, C and C Group, employs 800 people nationally, many of them in Clonmel. On top of this, other businesses such as apple farms and transportation services also benefit from Bulmers being located in south County Tipperary. It adds enormous value to the local community. The plant pays approximately €1.6 million in rates to the county council annually. The council is prevented from giving a waiver on rates to any business whose annual rates exceed €100,000. I ask the Tánaiste to act in this regard. A total of 50% of the Clonmel plant's output is exported to the UK. Its revenue is down approximately 70% due to Covid and the resulting closure of pubs, lack of matches and all of the social restrictions that are in place. Brexit also brings a unique threat to this industry, in the form of a threat of a proposed tariff on cider imported to the UK of 6.90 per 100 l. No tariff is proposed on beer. This is going to place cider at a major competitive disadvantage if that tariff is not eliminated.

Bulmers produces 12.5 hectolitres annually and this tariff is set to cost the company €6 million. The danger is that if the production plant in Clonmel becomes uncompetitive the company will have no choice but to move its operations abroad to another plant owned by the parent company C&C Group. This cannot be allowed to happen. Losing the employment it provides, the annual payroll of €12 million and the €1.6 million in rates that it pays to Tipperary County Council would be devastating for the county and the south-east region. A no-deal Brexit would be detrimental to the work of the Clonmel plant and could very well result in its relocation to the UK.

On the Good Friday Agreement, we have won a hard-fought peace on this island. The actions of Boris Johnson and his Government in recent times are worrying in the extreme. A Brexit deal cannot under any circumstances result in a border on our island. The Brexit we see on 1 January next year must respect the Northern Ireland protocol. Protecting jobs is vital, saving industries that are the backbone of our economy in rural Ireland is essential and the agrifood industry is dependent on retaining access to the UK's premium markets but ensuring peace and stability on our island for all people North and South must be paramount. I very much welcome the position of leading US politicians such as the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and the presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who have stated there will be no trade deal between the UK and the United States if the UK breaches its obligations under the Good Friday Agreement. Protecting peace at all costs is essential. The Government has an obligation to do this for all the people on the island.

The beef sector is hugely dependent on the UK market and it is the highest returning market available to our producers. Half our beef goes into that market. It would be a long haul to get alternative markets for that beef and getting alternative markets with the same economic return would be extremely difficult. This is why when we have proposed plants, such as the one in Banagher, we have to do everything possible to ensure they are built. Here we have a Chinese consortium that wants to build a plant in the midlands where there is a ready supply of cattle. It would create extra competition and, most importantly, it would provide us with a route to an alternative market such as China. We have had an awful lot of fanfare about gaining entry into the Chinese market but, unfortunately, up to now the beef that has gone there would fit in a wheelbarrow. Here we have a consortium that has a route into the market but, unimaginably, obstacles are being put in the way of building that plant. This is nonsensical. We have to get these routes to markets outside the UK. It will take a generation or more to reduce our dependence on the UK. When we have an opportunity we have to use it.

The other industry that will be under huge pressure is cheddar cheese. It is produced almost solely for the UK market. We have developed it over the centuries and 80% of all cheddar cheese we produce is sold into the UK market. If we are denied access to that market, or if a tariff is put on our product, it will create huge problems for the dairy industry.

The amount of milk that moves between North and South in the country is significant. A total of 25% of liquid milk sold here comes from Northern Ireland but Glanbia, Lakelands and Aurivo all import a lot of milk from Northern Ireland. We have to ensure this trade can continue unhindered.

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