Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was concerned that the disruption caused by Brexit would have an impact on Ireland.
Speaking on the last day of his visit to New York for UN meetings, Mr Martin said he believed “the implications are yet to come in terms of Brexit”.
Britain has recently been hit by fuel shortages and supermarket shelves have been difficult to fill.
Taoiseach was asked if he was concerned about the possibility of spillovers in Ireland. Mr. Martin replied, “I do.”
He said: “I’ve been worried for a long time about Brexit.
I think Covid has hidden a lot of issues related to Brexit.
“We have now weathered some of the storm because of the preparations, we have prepared well, and also because we are opening up links with Europe.”
However, he said he chose from Ireland’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) they find lead times to order goods and get them into the country “significantly longer” than they were before Brexit.
He said British small and medium businesses were finding it difficult to access the European market.
“So I think the repercussions are yet to come in terms of Brexit,” he said.
Mr Martin said that if politics could be taken out of the case, “everyone, including the UK, should think about how it works”.
“We owe it to those on the front lines of industry and business that the systems run smoothly,” he said.
Taoiseach also suggested that “there has not been the same level of preparedness in the UK for Brexit, and the results of this are visible in some aspects of British trade and British business”.
Asked if the British should renegotiate, he said: “It won’t happen.
“But what can happen is common sense and pragmatism.”
One example he gave was the British government’s plan to replace the EU Quality Mark with a British one and how this was delayed for a year as British companies said they were not ready and could have created a lot of logistical difficulties.
Mr. Martin also said that the problems that have arisen have been “also exacerbated – to be fair – by supply chain issues around Covid globally”.
He said he had “no doubt that Brexit is a concern” regarding the potential for Ireland to be affected by the turmoil in Britain.
“Spécialiste de la télévision sans vergogne. Pionnier des zombies inconditionnels. Résolveur de problèmes d’une humilité exaspérante.”
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