Ian Marshall (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I take the opportunity to bring to the attention of the House the information received from the British Chambers of Commerce this morning. It represents 75,000 firms which employ over 6 million people. It is telling us that there has been a holding back of investment in business in the United Kingdom and a stockpiling of commodities and food. People are moving offices and relocating in fear of a no-deal Brexit. The chamber of commerce has asked 20 questions, to which it would like answers. It has asked about the implications for trade, borders, people, regulation and the digital economy of a no-deal crash-out.In terms of tariffs, it has asked the following. What tariffs will be applied? Will they be applied to the importation of goods from the UK and from Ireland?

What rules of origin will traders have to comply with? Will people still be able to fly people, produce and goods between the UK and the EU and vice versa?

In terms of borders and customs, do businesses need to register? How simple will the registration process be? Are there more requirements that they do not already know about? On the continuity of the EU free trade agreements, FTAs, will any of the trade agreements be rolled over? Will there be confirmation that they will be able to continue importing tariff-free goods from developing and least developed countries? On inspections, will there be new safety requirements and safety inspections? Where will these be held? Who will conduct them? In terms of declarations, what system will be used? What will it look like?

There was a specific reference to Ireland. What procedures will companies face when trading between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? Will this be different from operating on any other UK border? Will business travel be subject to further administration, costs or visas? Will staff be able to move freely and work across the UK, Ireland and the EU? In terms of regulatory agencies, who will be the regulator and what will it look like? What form of dispute resolution and means of redress will be available to businesses after 29 March? We must also consider the digital implications and things like mobile roaming and customer data. As the Leader will agree, businesses across the UK have great concerns. I have no doubt that these questions are the same ones being asked by Irish businesses and firms. I am greatly concerned this morning that Northern Ireland businesses especially are not adequately prepared for this.

Interestingly, in terms of all of these rules and regulations that people and Brexiteers, primarily, keep citing as reasons that the UK should leave the EU, I wish to draw the attention of Senators to a piece of work commissioned by the House of Commons Library on how many UK laws were influenced by EU laws. The interesting statistic is that the library discovered that 4,514 laws out of 34,105 laws were influenced by EU laws in the UK. Of the EU laws that influenced UK lawa only 72 out of 34,105 were forced on the UK against its will. Certainly, this would dispel the notion that the UK was bound by or held back by European laws or bureaucracy.

In conclusion, I wish to refer to the current ongoing work that we are seeing on the island of Ireland with regard to Brexit and the potential of a no-deal crashout. It should be recognised that all of the work done by governments, civil services, businesses, industries and by these two Houses is not lost. I have no doubt that whatever the outcome in the next few weeks, Irish businesses will be stronger, fitter and more focused as a consequence of this good work.