Brexit didn't hit Ireland as hard as feared, Oireachtas committee hears

Brexit did not hit the Republic of Ireland as hard as feared, an Oireachtas committee has heard today (Wednesday March 9). 

However, uncertainty over post-Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland is "dampening" investment. 

That's according to the CEO of InterTradeIreland, Margaret Hearty, who said, "Many firms trading across the border on the island, particularly those with complex and integrated offshore supply chains, are finding adjusting to the new market rules challenging. 

“Many firms are still continuing to work through the impacts on services delivery and it is likely that further challenges will arise in a number of areas for services firms in the coming months and years. These challenges will likely be centred on market access, data sharing and skills." 

Anne Coleman-Dunne, from the Irish-UK section in the Department of Enterprise and Trade, speaking around 15 months since the first impacts of Brexit were felt in Ireland, said that “businesses have faced the realities of the new trading relationship”.

“While for many businesses, Brexit is done, this is not the case for those in the agri-food sector and businesses in this sector need to continue preparing for the UK import controls.

Those new import controls had been set to come into effect from the start of the year.

Describing it as a “temporary reprieve”, Ms Coleman-Dunn warned that nonetheless “Brexit has changed forever the trade relationship between the UK and Ireland and the full extent of these changes will only become fully evident over time”.

Already, data from the Central Statistics Office in Ireland has shown significant changes to the trading relationship between the two countries, even as trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland appears to grow. 

That change was set out clearly at the Oireachtas committee, where the decline in the use of Great Britain as a so-called landbridge for Irish traders was raised, with no indication from the data as to whether the shift is temporary or permanent.

Ms Coleman-Dunn said: “The trade data for 2021, particularly on exports to Great Britain and on trade flows North-South, is encouraging. However, uncertainty for the future of the UK-IE trading relationship remains.”

Quizzed by Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly about the lack of a functioning Executive in Northern Ireland, Ms Hearty stressed that the “raison d’etre” of her organisation was to promote cross-border trade.

“Business continues despite what happens within politics and we continue to support businesses.”

“Uncertainty is not good for business,” she said.