Now is not the time for ‘Brexit fatigue’

By Minister for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, TD (above)

For more than six months, the Covid-19 pandemic has dominated the minds of the Irish people and the news cycle.

It has wreaked havoc on the lives and livelihoods of the entire nation and poses unprecedented challenges.

Unfortunately, with the end of the Brexit transition period quickly approaching, another challenge of unprecedented magnitude will soon be upon us.

There has been a great deal of Brexit noise recently, focused on the FTA talks and on making the Withdrawal Agreement work, but no outcome in the coming weeks will change the fact that from 1 January, 2021, the UK will no longer be in the same customs and regulatory space as the EU.

That means that new customs and other rules will apply to east-west trade from 1 January no matter what.

We cannot afford to ignore the implications of this change. Now is the time to prepare.

In recent weeks, there has been much attention on the publication and passage through the House of Commons of the UK government’s Internal Market Bill.

There is no doubt the bill is concerning and potentially damaging for stability and peace on this island.

I cannot speak to the intentions of the UK government, but I can say with confidence that both Ireland and the EU remain committed to ensuring the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Protocol on Northern Ireland.

The ease with which trade currently flows between the UK and Ireland today is due to our shared membership of the EU Single Market and Customs Union.

No matter what happens in the negotiations, from 1 January 2021, the UK will no longer apply the rules of Single Market or Customs Union.

Every business, big or small, that moves goods from, to or through Britain needs to be ready for change.

There will be new procedures and paperwork that do not apply today to such trade.

We have made major investments in infrastructure and systems to support the changes and now business needs to make its changes too.

However, thanks to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, these changes will not apply to trade on this island and goods can move between Ireland and Northern Ireland as they do today.

We are now less than 90 days until the transition period ends.

It may feel we have marched to the top of this hill before as we prepared for a possible no-deal Brexit in March and October 2019 and again in January 2020.

It is not difficult to see how this could result in a sense of ‘Brexit fatigue’, particularly among businesses – but this is the final call. The realities of Brexit will be very stark from 1 January 2021.

The government’s September 2020 Brexit Readiness Action Plan (gov.ie/Brexit) clearly sets out the actions that citizens and business need to take before the 31 December 2020 deadline.

It also provides details of the range of financial, advisory and upskilling programmes we have put in place.

Revenue have written to 90,000 businesses practical offering advice.

I would encourage all businesses to take advantage of these services and supports.

Significant and lasting changes to the way businesses operate are coming and we all need to do our part to be ready for them.