On New Year’s Day a handful of lorries will roll off the Irish Ferries ship Ulysses after it arrives into Dublin Port at 05.30 following a three-hour crossing from Holyhead in Wales.

On previous Fridays, lorries would have driven clear of the port through the Dublin Port Tunnel out onto the M50 and then towards their distribution centres and delivery destinations unimpeded.

This Friday, these arrivals will be treated very differently.

The Ulysses will be the first roll-on, roll-off ferry to cross the EU-UK border after the end of the Brexit transition period at 11pm on Thursday.

The Stena Estrid will arrive in Dublin from Holyhead at 11.45pm on Thursday, but no customs procedures will apply to British goods on board, as it departed the UK before 11pm on Thursday, and thus Brexit had yet to take effect at the time of the departure.

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Almost €8 million, The Irish Times reports, has been spent by the State buying land and developing properties at Dublin Port, Dublin airport and Rosslare Europort for border checks post-Brexit.

Paschal Donohoe the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said the Office of Public Works (OPW) has spent €7.8 million to date on acquiring and developing physical infrastructure for use at the two ports and the airport.

The Minister revealed the spending on infrastructure for a no-deal Brexit in response to a parliamentary question tabled by Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath.

The State has taken control of a 13,000sq m warehouse at Dublin Port previously owned by businessman Harry Crosbie, and purchased 16 acres outside Rosslare port that was owned by car dealer Bill Cullen.

Both men lost control of the properties in the financial crash. Mr Donohoe did not provide a breakdown of the State’s spending on the individual properties.

The State fast-tracked the takeover of the former Crosbie warehouse and the Rosslare property for inspections of goods and containers should the UK leave the EU without a deal on March 31st. The Brexit date has since been extended until October 31st.

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