The chances of a trade deal to avert huge economic turmoil after the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 remained on a knife-edge last night.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and British prime minister Boris Johnson spoke on the phone as time runs out for a deal and the European Parliament set a fresh deadline of Sunday for an agreement.
Ms von der Leyen said there had been “substantial progress on many issues”.
“However, big differences remain to be bridged, in particular on fisheries,” she said in a statement. “Bridging them will be very challenging.”
The EU’s negotiator Michel Barnier said there has been “good progress” but the “last stumbling blocks remain”. He posted on Twitter: “We will only sign a deal protecting EU interests and principles.”
Northern Standard » Blog Archive » HAULAGE AND FARMING SECTOR FEARS MOUNT AS BREXIT LOOMS
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Brexit will cause chaos at the ports, hauliers warn
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“Even if a deal is reached and implemented between the EU and the UK on tariffs, the new arrangements involving inspections by the Revenue, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the HSE and An Garda Síochána will create hold-ups at our ports and airports.
“For hauliers, these disruptions and obstructions will have catastrophic consequences.”
Mr Brennan was speaking at the Oireachtas Transport Committee which also heard from representatives of transport companies, Cargo Logistics, DFDS and Brittany Ferries.
He called for an immediate plan of action to be drawn up to try to ease the impacts. He said the ferry companies, which currently had scheduled arrivals and departures within 30 minutes of each other at Dublin Port, must be ordered to space out their movements to allow each set of trucks clear the port before the next one landed.
New customs checks and import controls at Irish ports will have huge implications and massive knock-on consequences for the road haulage industry, a committee has been warned.
Members of the road haulage industry laid bare the level of disruption that will hit the country’s ports post-Brexit.
The Oireachtas Transport Committee was told that even if a post-Brexit trade deal is reached by the deadline, the new arrangements will create hold-ups at ports and airports.
Eugene Drennan, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, said these disruptions and obstructions will have “catastrophic consequences” for hauliers.
Around a million freight journeys are made across the Irish Sea every year.