Minister for Agriculture: ‘Tariffs will apply under WTO rules in no-deal Brexit’
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue says a no-deal Breixt will be very 'challenging' for Irish agriculture. File Picture.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, has confirmed that tariffs will apply to Irish goods going into the UK in the event of a no-deal Brexit scenario because of World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
The Minister, who spoke to the Irish Examiner on Tuesday said, that while the situation was one that the Irish Government wanted to “avoid”, once applied the tariffs would cause major challenges for Irish agriculture.
“In a no deal scenario WTO rules would apply; of course we want to avoid that and we hope for a good trade deal as an outcome from the negotiations - it must be very reasonable to Ireland and the EU.
“Certainly, from an agricultural point of view a no-deal scenario would be very, very challenging because there will be a default to WTO tariffs and that will have big implications for our agri-exports to the UK.”
Meanwhile, talks between the UK and the EU are taking place this week and it is understood that the EU wants a deal in place by next week so it can be ratified by the time the transition arrangements expire and the UK leaves the customs union and single market on December 31.
“While we are planning and putting mitigation plans in place for a no-deal eventuality - €3.5bn was put aside in the budget so that we can deal with such an outcome and there is a fund at EU level that we will be able to access as well - there is no doubt that is not the space we want to be in,” added the Minister.
“It’s one that we want to avoid but we have to plan for all scenarios. Ideally under the Good Friday Agreement we should be able to continue exporting to the UK tariff-free.”
Under last year’s Withdrawal Agreement the Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed upon which allows for tariff and barrier-free trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Minister McConalogue says it is an agreement that the UK has already signed up to, “and deal or no-deal the UK has committed to that part of the Agreement”.
“Ideally we want tariff and barrier-free trade with Britain as well but that will be dependent on a trade agreement,” he added.
“There is an implementation committee in place and it has met with the EU and the UK in relation to the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“The objective is to protect our all-island food production sector and animal health and welfare.
“The Protocol does provide for that.”
