We have all witnessed the Brexit chaos in Britain at this point, but we have an impending disaster as we face into Christmas, which could even impact the Santa Claus supply chain. The issue relates to people looking to import items. On 1 July, stringent new EU customs rules were introduced. Certain companies have failed to prepare and may not necessarily be providing the correct information. This is not being filtered, particularly when it is posted from Britain. It means we have a stockpile here and there is a major hold-up. It is taking significant time for An Post and customs to have their stuff returned to Britain.

I know An Post is engaging with the Irish customs, the Royal Mail and other non-EU carriers but we need to engage with the British Government and with customs and we need to get it sorted.

In fairness to Santa Claus, he overcame the Covid-19 crisis and he will overcome the supply chain issue as well. I have no doubt about that. On wider issues, Brexit continues to have an impact and in many ways Covid masked some of the issues that have arisen from it. The issues are mainly in the United Kingdom in the operation of small to medium-sized businesses there, for example. Their capacity to supply the European market and Ireland has been affected. Many of our SMEs are finding the timelines longer in terms of receiving orders and supplies from customs in the UK. I am conscious of the issues the Deputy has raised.