ESRI: Covid-hit sectors least at risk to Brexit shock                

Irish firms in particular sectors such as food and agriculture are among the most exposed in Europe to the risk of Brexit.

Sectors of the economy worst hit by the Covid-19 health crisis are unlikely to be also exposed to the threat of Brexit, according to new research by the Economic and Social Research Institute.

The research by Luke Daly and Martina Lawless will provide some reassurance that the sectors worst hit by the Covid health emergency such as hospitality will not face a second shock should Britain crash out of the EU.

Irish firms in particular sectors such as food and agriculture are among the most exposed in Europe to the risk of Brexit.

However, the two shocks increase the number of sectors that will be affected in Ireland as assessed by a green, amber, and red ratings by the ESRI.  

 “Our main finding is that the sectors exposed to each shock are not particularly closely connected to those affected by the other shock,” the ESRI found.

“These results suggest that adding the Brexit shock to that of Covid-19 brings a wider range of sectors exposed to risk but that the impacts are not magnified by interaction effects,” according to the research.

Covid-hit sectors such as hospitality and construction “are expected to have almost no impact from Brexit”, while “the most exposed sector to the Brexit shock, financial services, and insurance, has not been unaffected by Covid-19, but is in the mid-range of the Covid-19 impacts”.