British and all-Ireland trade blossom despite protocol row, new CSO figures suggest

Containers in the Port of Cork in Ringaskiddy.

Exports and imports across the Irish Sea have increased and all-Ireland trade has blossomed, suggesting little fallout so far from the 17-month-old Brexit deal and the Northern Ireland Protocol, new CSO figures suggest.

They come at a time when political tensions between the European Union (EU) and London have again risen over the protocol that was struck to keep the North in both the European single market and the UK customs area. 

The figures show exports across the Irish Sea to Britain rose 26% to more than €3.8bn in the first three months this year from the same period in 2021, while imports from Britain climbed 78% to €5.2bn.  

Last year, the start of Brexit disrupted normal levels of trade between Britain and Ireland as Irish exporters rerouted goods to go directly to the continent by sea, rather than accessing Channel ports through the so-called land bridge on British roads. 

Aidan Flynn, head of hauliers group Freight Transport Association Ireland, said the CSO figures pointed to positive news for the economic regions in the UK and Ireland and to some sort of normalisation.       

However, the picture is clouded by the fact that Britain has yet to implement the full suite of checks under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on imports of goods coming into the UK from the EU, Mr Flynn said.  

The CSO said "the large" increases in imports from Britain was "partly explained by the relatively low level of imports in March 20212", around the start of the Brexit deal. 

Meanwhile, the CSO figures also suggest that trade between the North and the Republic continues to blossom, to the benefit of both economic regions. 

Exports from the Republic to the North rose by almost 50% to €1.1bn in the first three months, while imports from the North were up 34% to almost €1.2bn in the same period. 

The CSO figures show that Irish exports and imports to all world markets rose significantly to set new records.    

“In March 2022, Ireland’s unadjusted exports of goods exceeded €20bn in a month for the first time," said CSO statistician, Ciarán Counihan.

“The increases in goods exports were driven mainly by growth in the exports of medical and pharmaceutical products and organic chemicals," Mr Counihan said.