Kathleen Funchion: South East Businesses Struggle with Brexit Bureaucracy

Thank you very much. I am going to limit my remarks to the impact of Brexit on businesses, particularly in the South East area. The biggest issue facing many businesses is the monumental bureaucratic process that the English Government is requiring businesses to undertake to bring their products to the English market. This has been a massively challenging and quite daunting process of change and adjustment for so many businesses in the South East, and in particular my home constituency of Carlow and Kilkenny. I would like to highlight one company in my constituency to shine a light on the practical and real implications of Brexit. Ceres Bakery, which is an award-winning company who actually started out in their shed in their back garden in Tynryland, County Carlow, and they make cakes. Since such humble beginnings, this company have grown substantially and their cakes are now shipped around the world, such as the success of the homegrown business. They now operate a second large distribution facility also in County Carlow, which obviously is fantastic for the local area and for employment. And this time of year in particular, it is extremely busy, obviously, they are in the whole cake business, so they are busy getting ready to ship Christmas puddings, in particular delivered all around the world. The implications of Brexit have permeated all aspects of their business, and all staff need to have a knowledge and understanding of how Brexit is incorporated within their roles. This has required the expense of retraining staff, and while Ceres have made a lot of progress to date, this is not the case for all companies, who through no fault of their own have been presented with an enormous challenge in getting Brexit ready. Ceres Bakery have highlighted three big fears that they would have in relation to Brexit that I am sure lots of other companies also have. They do not want their products stopped at the ports, because this will add delays which will equal greater costs. They need clarity on possible tariffs, and they do not want the customs process to require a lot of manual handling, which will further delay shipments. While some of this might be within their control, well, possibly tariffs are obviously not, and that is a big issue. I have also heard anecdotal evidence that companies in the South East are now facing challenges in finding haulier companies that will process customs clearance, as many will not do this work. Companies, particularly in Car Local Kenny, are particularly struggling to find a customs clearance agent. If the tariff is in the region of 8 per cent, Ceres were quite adamant that this would mean one of their largest markets in England would simply not be a viable market for them any longer. They are completely honest in their assessment of the whole process that has been confusing, and the stop-start nature of the negotiations has been extremely costly for businesses. The cost to their business in terms of IT requirements and warehousing have been substantial, and the whole process has been overwhelming at times. I think it is incumbent on all of us to remember that Brexit is not just a story we see on the nightly news. The implications of Brexit is placing real and substantial pressure on Indigenous companies, and there are real people trying to make a living to support families and communities at the back of all these stories. Obviously, this is even more particularly difficult in the backdrop of COVID. Thanks, Cancora. Thanks, Cancora.