Brexit far from over for Irish businesses

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement signed last Christmas set up an institutional architecture that will define the ongoing negotiations for years to come

Lorries queue for the frontier control area at the Port of Dover in Kent, where freight Channel traffic is returning to normal levels following a quiet start to the year and the end of the transition period with the European Union on December 31

You’d be forgiven for thinking that finally Brexit is done. But January 1 last marked the beginning of a new era for trade with the UK as well as the end of the protracted Brexit negotiations.

And while the business community on both sides of the Irish Sea and on the continent sighed a communal “hallelujah” when the EU and the British government signed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on Christmas Eve, there is an ...