Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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15. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on post-Brexit trading patterns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53738/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate Rishi Sunak on becoming Conservative Party Leader and Prime Minister. I look forward to working with him.

The UK is our nearest and closest neighbour and we need to have a good relationship with it both in terms of our economy but also in terms of making progress in Northern Ireland.

These are challenging times of war, inflation and global uncertainty and so it makes sense for the UK to work with Ireland and the EU as friends and allies in the years ahead.

We are diversifying our trade links in response to Brexit, but it’s also important that we strengthen our business links with the UK. Our expanding Embassy in London, our new Consulate General and Enterprise Ireland trade office in Manchester and our reopened consulate in Cardiff are all evidence of our commitment.

The Central Statistics Office compiles statistical data in relation to Ireland’s goods exports and imports and these are available on the CSO website.

I think the Deputy is familiar with the data so I will not list them.

We continue to monitor closely the impact that Brexit is having on imports and exports to the UK, the EU and the wider world. As I said, we want to help companies diversify and discover new markets and reap the benefits of free trade agreements and work with them to adapt to changed trading conditions as a result of Brexit.