Business Journalist At the end of a tough year for much of humanity, Irish and British people had one reason to have a joyous Christmas in 2020. News that an EU-UK trade deal had been struck on Christmas Eve meant they could finally stop hearing about the 'B' word that dominated news day in, day out for the past five years or more - or at least until it had to share the headlines with a novel coronavirus. However, in some ways, Brexit has only just begun. The talking has pretty much ended, but the practicalities of Brexit became apparent very quickly when consumers were suddenly faced with the occasional empty supermarket shelf in the early days of January and the news that Percy Pig may not grace their sweet bowls anymore.