Trade between Ireland and the UK is going to suffer “considerable disruption” even if a trade deal with the EU is agreed before the December deadline, Ministers will be told on Wednesday morning when the Cabinet meets to discuss Brexit. “Even an ambitious and deep agreement, if such were achievable in the short timeframe, will not be the status quo and will involve considerable disruption,” it states. They say the possibilities range from “agreement on a deep and ambitious future relationship” to a “bare bones” free-trade agreement to no agreement at all. “Failure to agree a free-trade agreement would result in trade taking place on WTO [World Trade Organisation] terms and significantly impact economic activity between Ireland and Britain,” it says. If this occurs, the memo says, the size of the Irish economy is likely to be 7 per cent smaller by 2030 than it would otherwise have been.

Source: The Irish Times January 29, 2020 02:48 UTC