Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. I am not even hung up on that formality, to be honest.

There are a lot of questions. On the Brexit adjustment fund, first, we have to get it approved. At the moment, what we have is a draft proposal. Some countries are questioning that allocation process and we need to get that approved in the European Parliament and signed off on in the European Commission so we can access that money as soon as possible. The Government will then look to the areas that have seen the most disruption from Brexit and that need supports, whether that is fishing, agri-food or haulage. We will then come forward with a proposal in terms of how we spend that money. We will certainly bear what the Deputy says in mind because I know that hauliers have been significantly disrupted by this change.

I do not want to raise expectations around transition periods, grace periods and so on. We had a transition period; it was 2020. We knew what was coming. Even though a deal was only done on Christmas Eve, the UK had made a very clear commitment to leave the customs union and Single Market. That has real consequences in terms of trade across the Irish Sea and it is important we do not pretend that, by negotiation, we can actually get things back to the way they were before. This is about adapting to the new reality rather than pretending we can change that reality. That being said, of course, there are things around the edges that we can work on to make sure the paperwork works in a slicker way. I can promise the Deputy we will continue to have very close engagement with the haulage sector.

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