TheRetailer_Summer_19

Aodhán Connolly Aodhán is the director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, is on the Sec of State Northern Ireland Business Advisory Panel and has recently been appointed to HMG Alternative Arrangement Advisory Group

Criminality The interim report says “The NI land border lays on the fringe of the European Union. If goods are to be smuggled across this land border from outside the EU, via the UK and Ireland into the mainland EU, using the island of Ireland would not be economic in the general sense. Any gains from smuggling would have to offset against increased transportation and logistical costs.” However, NI already has some of the highest levels of smuggling in Europe because of price differentials centred on products such as cigarettes, alcohol, fuel and even washing powder. The profit on a lorry load of beef smuggled across the border is around £150,000 per load. This is more than enough to offset travel costs. It also aims to keep smuggling to “an acceptable level”. For us, there is no acceptable level of smuggling across the Irish border. It makes legitimate traders less competitive and it has a history of funding paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. This would not be acceptable in Kent so it is not acceptable in Northern Ireland. The AAC proposes a Special Economic Zone, basically a customs zone for free flow of trade at the Donegal and Louth borders. However instead on one border this would create six borders, the antithesis of what the Commission should be trying to achieve. They also espouse a Single Epidemiological Unit either would mean Ireland leaving alignment with the EU which is an anathema to them or any common rulebook on SPS would effectively be alignment with the EU SPS rulebook and interpreted in such ways as the CJEU definitively decides if legal issues arise. This would appear to be outside the terms of reference which the AAC has (in terms of giving the UK regulatory autonomy of trade policy) even if the European Commission agreed to it. Half a Solution is no Solution A ‘no-deal’ Brexit is the biggest threat to the Northern Ireland economy since the Troubles but it also affects business and consumers across the UK. It is clear that the AAC listened to the people of Northern Ireland on its visits. However, the solutions proffered by them add complexity and costs that will make business in NI less competitive and in some cases unviable. A lot of these solution are predicated on “goodwill from the EU” to change their rules. But this is not good will that is asked for but a fundamental change to the EU Acquis and how they do business. Our tests for any alternative arrangements remain the same. Currently these proposals do not meet these tests. This is not a case of the glass being half empty or half full. It is not a battle between optimism and pessimism. In relation to the Irish land border only the glass being completely full will provide a workable solution. Special Economic Zones and Single Epidemiological Unit – Crossing the Line

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