Sir, – In "Post-Brexit losses are unlikely to be on the scale envisaged by Copenhagen study" (Business Opinion, February 16th), John FitzGerald expresses his "major disappointment with the Department" (of Business, Enterprise and Innovation), which, he claims, has "failed to examine the implications of the likely major disruption to the Irish supply chain from Brexit", making specific reference to a lack of focus on both consumers and importers. However, it is important to point out that consideration of the supply chain implications of the various Brexit scenarios is in fact embedded in the model used by Copenhagen Economics in assessing the potential impacts of Brexit on Ireland. Furthermore, the department is undertaking other work with a focus on supply-chain issues. The department published Building Stronger Business last November, setting out the various actions being undertaken by the department and its agencies in response to Brexit. This includes a major suite of research and analysis to give us a deeper understanding of the variety of implications and impacts that Brexit may have on business and on consumers in Ireland, including supply chains; this will assist Government in developing appropriate supports for enterprise and informing Ireland's position in negotiations. As well as the Copenhagen Economics study, the department and its agencies are leading, funding and involved in four other studies which will deal with these issues.
These studies will complement earlier Brexit-related work already published by the department, including two studies undertaken by Behaviour & Attitudes in relation to the impact of Brexit on SMEs, the National Competitiveness Council’s Benchmarking Ireland, and the UK and InterTrade Ireland’s study of the potential impact of WTO tariffs on cross-border trade. – Yours, etc,
CATHY MADDEN,
Department of
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Business, Enterprise
and Innovation,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.