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

On the protocol for Ireland and Northern Ireland, there are clearly some issues that are frustrating trade. Some of them are linked to a lack of preparation beforehand and some are linked to adjusting to the new realities of bureaucracy, much paperwork, notice and engagement with port authorities and revenue commissioners. That new adjustment is something that we have seen political kickback against, particularly from some political parties in Northern Ireland. Looking at the amount of trade coming into Northern Ireland's ports, it is more or less the same as it was this time last year, about 6% down. Ironically, trade from the UK coming into Dublin and Rosslare is significantly down. That is for a number of reasons, partly because we have seen a number of hauliers choosing direct ferry routes to France as an alternative, where there is a 300% increase. Trade is happening. There are some problems and disruption which we will try to overcome. The threshold to invoke Article 16 is very high and I do not think it is realistic that Article 16 will be used, unless something extraordinary happened that certainly is not happening today. The politics and commentary around Article 16 have not always been based in reality about what Article 16 proposes to do and who can invoke it.

Regarding the land bridge, my understanding is that the reports done on this have said that the ferry sector has the capacity to respond by providing significant increased capacity for direct ferry routes that avoid the land bridge. We are seeing that. DFDS, Stena Line, Irish Ferries, Brittany Ferries and a number of companies providing lift-on lift-off freight services have provided a dramatic increase in a short period, and it will continue, with more to come. It is not perfect. At the start of the year, there were pressures and hauliers were not able to get onto ferries when they wanted to, but I think because of that pressure, we have seen ferry companies respond remarkably quickly to that increased demand. In some cases, we have seen larger ships that were on Irish Sea routes between Dublin and Holyhead switching to direct routes between Ireland and France.

The strategic review between Ireland and the UK is being led by the Taoiseach. My Department is involved too. That will be a significant focus for the next 12 months.

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