Mr. Paul Lynam:

I thank members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs for inviting us to speak on this very important topic. I am the deputy director general of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. I am joined by my colleague, Mr. Aidan Finnegan, who is our director of policy, and by two of our very active members, Ms Carol Lynch from BDO and Mr. Patrick Donohoe from Lakeland Dairies.

The British Irish Chamber of Commerce is the only organisation representing business activities with interests across our two islands - north, south, east and west. Our raison d'être is very simple - to champion and grow the trade between the UK and Ireland. I will give a quick recap on those figures. There is more than €100 billion in trade every single year, both ways, and it sustains approximately 600,000 jobs, of which 400,000 are in Great Britain. The majority of the jobs created by this trade are in Great Britain. A lot of people are not aware of that.

Prior to the adoption of the Windsor Framework, the chamber was at the forefront of channelling our members' concerns in relation to the then Northern Ireland protocol. The chamber held the view that very specific arrangements for Northern Ireland were always needed to ensure that no physical border on the island of Ireland would be erected for customs purposes. Equally, we were very aware of the practical flaws of the then Northern Ireland protocol and we believed it was appropriate that pragmatic changes be made. While no compromise could be 100% perfect or equal to the pre-Brexit trading conditions, we believe that the Windsor Framework alleviated the worst trade impositions between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

When polling our members: 95% supported the framework as a pathway forward, of which 72% believed it would be net positive for our members; 23% indicated there would be no change, however 5% did indicate that it would be a net negative, based on pre-Brexit conditions.

As a result of the Windsor Framework, there has been no discernible changes in moving goods between Ireland and Northern Ireland. As the chamber and others highlighted from the outset, no regulatory barriers could be developed that would not have an adverse impact not only on all-island trade but on the integrated nature of the all-island agrifood supply chain. To understand the workings of the Windsor Framework and its ongoing operational success we can look to cross-Border dairy co-operative Lakeland Dairies, represented by Mr. Donohoe.

To give some context, Lakeland Dairies, with 3,200 farm families across 17 counties processes 2 billion litres of milk in facilities on both sides of the Irish Border and supplies 100 markets globally. Brexit posed significant challenges for the company, raising fears of a hard border, regulatory divergence, and potential disruptions to trade. Agriculture is vital to the Irish economy and concerns about tariffs, customs checks, and regulatory misalignment, particularly regarding food safety regulations, threatened the long-term viability of this business.

Lakeland Dairies processes 400 million litres of Northern Irish milk annually in the Republic, with an additional 360 million litres moving South from other processors. Northern Ireland, although only 3% of the UK's population, accounted for 40% of the UK's dairy exports in 2023. The Windsor Framework has helped mitigate these risks by ensuring smooth trade between Northern Ireland, the Republic, and the broader European Union, securing the future of businesses like Lakeland Dairies and the livelihoods of thousands of farm families dependent on cross-Border trade. Mr. Donohoe will be happy to take any questions committee members may have later on the implementation of the framework from a Lakelands perspective.

The Windsor Framework built on the protocol to simplify procedures relating to goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. At a high level, two new authorisations were introduced to widen the scheme for simplified movements along with a corresponding introduction of green and red lanes and “Not for EU” labelling on foodstuffs. This has primarily assisted the movement of food products to Northern Ireland supermarkets, as well as certain products for identifiable sale in retail in Northern Ireland.

The position relating to the movement of goods for processing in Northern Ireland is more complex, particularly where the processed or finished product could ultimately be destined for sale internationally, in the EU, on the GB market and potentially in Northern Ireland. During September it was announced that the introduction of expected customs simplifications which were to support the green lane have been delayed to March 2025. These simplifications meant that full customs declarations would not be required for goods using the green lane. In addition, the UKIMS authorisation, essentially the trusted trader authorisation verifying that you are only importing for sale in the Northern Ireland market, is quite complex and time consuming and difficult for businesses outside the very large ones to complete.

Through the Windsor Framework, the EU and UK agreed that UK public health and safety standards are applied to retail food and drink within Northern Ireland. These products must phase in labels in October stating that a product is "Not for EU". Originally it was intended that “Not for EU” labelling would be GB-wide but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has agreed to no longer take this approach. as of yesterday, or the day before. This is a welcomed development as it would have created additional administrative burdens on businesses. However, some businesses had prepared for this scenario already.

Unlike through the protocol, certain medicines approved by the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA, or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, MHRA, - the regulatory medicines authorities for the Republic and the UK - cannot flow on an all-island basis from January 2025. This is an example of an additional regulatory barrier between the North and South that did not exist prior to the implementation of the Windsor Framework.

The Windsor Framework sets out simplified arrangements to support the critical flow of agrifood retail into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. However, despite reduced checks, appropriately there are checks on sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, products from Great Britain. Further reductions would take place if a comprehensive SPS veterinary agreement was put in place between the EU and the UK. That has been a long-standing position of the chamber and one we have been articulating to the new UK Government for quite a time prior to its election.

Despite logistical challenges and teething issues, the Windsor protocol is working as had been generally intended. As committee members are aware, Article 18 of the framework contains the "democratic consent mechanism". This is a vote by the Northern Ireland Assembly on whether Articles 5 to 10 of the Windsor Framework should continue to apply. That is where EU regulations are applied in Northern Ireland. This vote will take place this year - likely in December - and we will be advocating for consent for the continuance of this mechanism.

I, along with my colleagues, am happy to take any questions members may have.