Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will limit my remarks to the impact of Brexit on businesses, particularly in the south-east region. The biggest issue facing many businesses is the monumental bureaucratic process the English government requires businesses to undertake to bring their products to the English market. This has been a massively challenging and quite daunting process of change and adjustment for many businesses in the south east, in particular my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny.

I will highlight one company in my constituency to shine a light on the practical and real implications of Brexit. Seerys Bakery, an award winning company, started out in a shed in the family's back garden in Tinryland, County Carlow. It makes cakes, and from such humble beginnings, the company has grown substantially and its cakes are now shipped around the world. Such is the success of the home-grown business, it now operates a second large distribution facility in County Carlow which is obviously fantastic for the local area and employment. This time of year is obviously extremely busy for a company in the cake business and Seerys is busy getting ready to ship Christmas puddings around the world. The implications of Brexit have permeated all aspects of the business and all staff need to have a knowledge and understanding of how Brexit is incorporated in their roles. This has required the expense of retraining staff. While Seerys has made much progress to date, this is not case for all companies which, through no fault of their own, have been presented with an enormous challenge in getting Brexit-ready.

Seerys Bakery has highlighted three big fears it has regarding Brexit and I am sure these are shared by many other companies. It does not want its products stopped at the ports as this will add delays and create greater costs. It needs clarity on possible tariffs and it does not want the customs process to require a lot of manual handling which would further delay shipments. While some of this might be within the company's control, tariffs are obviously not, which is a big issue.

I have also heard anecdotal evidence that companies in the south east now face challenges in finding haulier companies that will process customs clearance as many will not do this work. Companies, particularly in Carlow-Kilkenny, are struggling to find a customs clearance agent. If the tariff is in the region of 8%, Seerys is adamant that this will mean one of its largest markets in England will simply not be viable any longer. It is completely honest in its assessment of the whole confusing process. The stop-start nature of negotiations has been extremely costly for businesses. The cost to the Seerys business in terms of information technology requirements and warehousing has been substantial and the whole process has been overwhelming at times.

It is incumbent on all of us to remember that Brexit is not just the story we see on the nightly news. Its implications place real and substantial pressure on indigenous companies and real people are trying to make a living and support families and communities at the back of all these stories. Obviously, this is even more difficult against the backdrop of Covid-19.

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