James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The United Kingdom will be outside the EU Single Market and the customs union in a little over seven weeks' time. While the outcome of the negotiations between the parties is ongoing, it is critical to recognise that all businesses, regardless of their size, will be impacted by the outcome of the negotiations. As a result, it is vital to be prepared to face the challenging and complex environment we find ourselves in.

Before moving on to the content of the Bill, I take the opportunity to congratulate President-elect Biden and Kamala Harris on their election victory in recent days. President-elect Biden has always been a good friend to Ireland and it is welcome he has reaffirmed his full support for the Good Friday Agreement and discussed the importance of a Brexit outcome that respects the agreement and ensures no return to a hard border in Ireland. I also want to take the opportunity to offer my sincere congratulations to his sister, Valerie, who has strong connections to my parish, Killeagh.

It is also welcome that the President-elect recognises that any trade deal between the US and the UK must be contingent upon the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. As he tweeted in September, and is believed to have re-emphasised to Prime Minister Johnson yesterday, there is a need to ensure that the customs facilities will not apply to trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the Ireland-Northern Ireland protocol must be upheld to avoid a hard border on this island. However, the relationship between Ireland and Great Britain will change as customs controls will be applied to the movement of goods between Ireland and Great Britain. These changes to the terms of customs administration are particularly significant for Ireland, given the large volume of goods going to and from the UK through Irish ports.

Part 11 of the Bill is designed to accommodate the anticipated substantial increase in customs controls that is required at ports and at traders’ premises arising from the end of the transition period. We must ensure that ample resources and technical expertise are provided to the Revenue Commissioners to oversee this task. We do not want to find ourselves in a situation where we have inadvertently created a non-level playing field between Ireland and the UK through a lack of resources.

Making it an offence for truck drivers to exit customs at a port without obeying instructions given by the Revenue Commissioners is probably an issue that needs to be addressed. Additional powers need to be established and additional facilities provided to customs officials in order that they can properly police this after years of a free trade system.

The UK land bridge is essential to ensure a robust customs regime is in place. It is estimated that there are approximately 150,000 movements across the land bridge annually, with an estimated value of €18.2 billion in goods. A significant portion of the goods transported via the land bridge are agrifood goods with a short shelf life, such as fresh fish. This makes the UK land bridge the most viable route to the market. The UK accession to the common trade convention is welcome and such a system should allow EU goods to transit through the UK without undergoing full customs import and export formalities on entry and exit, which is critical.

While I understand that the Bill before the House can only Brexit-proof the arrangements that are within our control, we should nevertheless be constantly working towards ensuring that our exporting community is ready to adapt to the situation in which we will find ourselves in only seven weeks' time. I recognise that the Government has undertaken substantial arrangements and engagements at a political and official level across the EU to ensure EU goods moving via the land bridge are not subject to additional and unnecessary checks and controls, and to ultimately ensure that, once the necessary controls are implemented, transit goods will be given the green light and permitted to leave port.

As a person who grew up in a farming household, I am very conscious that the farming community will be hard hit both on the export front to the UK and by all the other potential ramifications of Brexit and what it will mean for our trading relationships with other EU markets. The UK is Ireland's largest market for fresh food and drink, with 40% of our exports destined for the UK in that sector. In 2016, 34% of Ireland's dairy exports went to the UK, representing 53% of cheese exports, 29% of butter exports and 12% of skimmed milk powder exports. Exports of cheddar cheese amounted to 78,000 tonnes, representing 82% of all cheddar imported by the UK in 2016. Ireland is the only significant exporter of cheddar to the UK market, which is the only market of significance for Irish cheddar.

This matter is critical to the constituency of Cork East, which I represent. There are thousands of people, particularly across the north of the constituency, working for companies like Dairygold and Teagasc, and in many other agri-related activities. Their livelihoods could potentially be very badly damaged by any prospect of a crash-out Brexit. We have to do everything we can, as the Minister is aware. Deputy Lowry referred to the fact there is a lack of knowledge, awareness and worry among the population regarding Brexit. I agree with him to a certain degree. In the coming weeks, people will become more aware of what potentially lies in front of us, which could be devastating. I am incredibly worried about what it could mean for the agriculture sector and for the livelihoods of thousands of people working in agrifood facilities in Cork East. The Minister is very familiar with my part of the country and County Cork. He knows that this matter is a priority for me, as a local representative in the area. I understand that we are doing all we can to ensure that the transition will be as smooth as possible and that, without planning, there will be little to no execution.

However, I re-emphasise that we must have a tangible system of operations on the ground which are ready to be operationalised to give us the best opportunity of navigating through this in the months and years ahead.

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