Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have been saying clearly for the past couple of months that, regardless of how the talks finish up in the weeks ahead, there will be major changes for business, including in the customs area. That will be new to many businesses that have operated in Ireland over the past 30 or 40 years. It is a new challenge for them. We recognise that and that is why the Tánaiste and the Government made money available for customs support and we announced a specific €20 million fund for the ready for customs support scheme. In that, we encourage businesses to come forward and draw down a fund of up to €9,000 towards an employee or people to enable them to prepare for the customs challenge.

It will be difficult and the Tánaiste, the Minister of State, Deputy Troy and I have been engaging with companies and representative bodies. We have been down at the ports and engaging with Revenue and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the processes and complications involved. We recognise that life will be complicated. Brexit will put barriers on trade and will make it more difficult. That is why those companies need to use the remaining 50 days plus to prepare themselves to engage the skills they need to trade through this when the customs are in place.

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