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Displaying items by tag: Brexit Red Tape

At the Department of Agriculture, planning for export health certificates is to more than quadruple to 310,000 next year when Britain’s post-Brexit checks on Irish agrifood exports start.

The vast volume of red tape is being introduced on border controls covering about €5 billion worth of Irish meat, dairy and agricultural produce exports for the first time as Irish exporters feel the bureaucratic impact of the UK’s departure from the EU for the first time since Brexit.

EU checks on imports from Britain began on Irish ports in January 2021, when Brexit came into effect, but the UK will only start checks on imports of products from the EU on January 1st.

British checks on goods from the island of Ireland have been delayed temporarily, “until further notice”, pending the outcome of EU-UK talks over the Northern Ireland protocol, the post-Brexit trading rules applying to the North, but checks are still expected to come into force next year.

The Irish Times has more on the story.

Published in Ports & Shipping

According to a survey, almost four in 10 Irish businesses are reporting delays to their supply chain as a consequence of Brexit.

As The Irish Times writes, a substantial proportion of businesses have changed their export strategies ahead of an expected swelling of Brexit red tape over the next year.

The UK’s departure from the EU is already having a substantial impact on Irish businesses, according to professional services firm Grant Thornton, triggering concern that lead times will deteriorate further as a string of new border requirements are introduced from October onwards.

Some 37 per cent of the companies surveyed for Grant Thornton Ireland’s International Business Report indicated they were experiencing longer lead times in their supply chains, with 22 per cent needing to recruit alternative global suppliers and 21 per cent saying they had recruited alternative suppliers within Ireland.

Almost a fifth – 17 per cent – said they had outsourced or recruited people to deal with the additional bureaucracy, and 51 per cent identified Brexit red tape and regulations as a constraint to the growth of their company.

“It is likely going to get worse in the next 12 months, as the UK has been employing a light touch up to now,” said Jarlath O’Keefe, Grant Thornton Ireland’s head of indirect taxes.

Further reading on this story here.

Published in Irish Ports

There have been concerns expressed about the state of readiness among Ireland's exporters for the next batch of post-Brexit regulations which are due to come into effect in October.

At the moment, products coming from the UK, which is now a non-EU country, can be subject to customs and other checks when they arrive into Irish ports.

From 1 October, the process will also apply for goods going in the other direction.

The new checks will relate to any produce which is of animal origin and will mean that exports will need to have export health certificates before entering the UK.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine Charlie McConalogue has encouraged producers and exporters to do all they can to get ready for the new regime.

However, some in the sector are worried that the new UK certification system and inspections will lead to delays and extra costs.

Kieran Tracey of Nolan Transport, now one of Europe’s biggest transport companies, with food and other agricultural products accounting for a large percentage of its transit business, said there needs to be more "conjoined thinking" between the different Irish State agencies involved in checking exports.

The opening weeks of the post-Brexit era saw delays for haulage companies as they dealt with the new round of paperwork and checks, he said, and more headaches could be looming.

More can be read from RTE News here. 

Published in Ferry

Howth 17 information

The oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world is still competing today to its original 1897 design exclusively at Howth Yacht club.

Howth 17 FAQs

The Howth 17 is a type of keelboat. It is a 3-man single-design keelboat designed to race in the waters off Howth and Dublin Bay.

The Howth Seventeen is just 22ft 6ins in hull length.

The Howth 17 class is raced and maintained by the Association members preserving the unique heritage of the boats. Association Members maintain the vibrancy of the Class by racing and cruising together as a class and also encourage new participants to the Class in order to maintain succession. This philosophy is taken account of and explained when the boats are sold.

The boat is the oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world and it is still racing today to its original design exclusively at Howth Yacht club. It has important historical and heritage value keep alive by a vibrant class of members who race and cruise the boats.

Although 21 boats are in existence, a full fleet rarely sails buy turnouts for the annual championships are regularly in the high teens.

The plans of the Howth 17 were originally drawn by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 for Howth Sailing Club. The boat was launched in Ireland in 1898.

They were originally built by John Hilditch at Carrickfergus, County Down. Initially, five boats were constructed by him and sailed the 90-mile passage to Howth in the spring of 1898. The latest Number 21 was built in France in 2017.

The Howth 17s were designed to combat local conditions in Howth that many of the keel-less boats of that era such as the 'Half-Rater' would have found difficult.

The original fleet of five, Rita, Leila, Silver Moon, Aura and Hera, was increased in 1900 with the addition of Pauline, Zaida and Anita. By 1913 the class had increased to fourteen boats. The extra nine were commissioned by Dublin Bay Sailing Club for racing from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) - Echo, Sylvia, Mimosa, Deilginis, Rosemary, Gladys, Bobolink, Eileen and Nautilus. Gradually the boats found their way to Howth from various places, including the Solent and by the latter part of the 20th century they were all based there. The class, however, was reduced to 15 due to mishaps and storm damage for a few short years but in May 1988 Isobel and Erica were launched at Howth Yacht Club, the boats having been built in a shed at Howth Castle - the first of the class actually built in Howth.

The basic wooden Howth 17 specification was for a stem and keel of oak and elm, deadwood and frames of oak, planking of yellow pine above the waterline and red pine below, a shelf of pitch pine and a topstrake of teak, larch deck-beams and yellow pine planking and Baltic spruce spars with a keel of lead. Other than the inclusion of teak, the boats were designed to be built of materials which at that time were readily available. However today yellow pine and pitch pine are scarce, their properties of endurance and longevity much appreciated and very much in evidence on the original five boats.

 

It is always a busy 60-race season of regular midweek evening and Saturday afternoon contests plus regattas and the Howth Autumn League.

In 2017, a new Howth 17 Orla, No 21, was built for Ian Malcolm. The construction of Orla began in September 2016 at Skol ar Mor, the boat-building school run by American Mike Newmeyer and his dedicated team of instructor-craftsmen at Mesquer in southern Brittany. In 2018, Storm Emma wrought extensive destruction through the seven Howth Seventeens stored in their much-damaged shed on Howth’s East Pier at the beginning of March 2018, it was feared that several of the boats – which since 1898 have been the very heart of Howth sailing – would be written off. But in the end only one – David O’Connell’s Anita built in 1900 by James Clancy of Dun Laoghaire – was assessed as needing a complete re-build. Anita was rebuilt by Paul Robert and his team at Les Ateliers de l’Enfer in Douarnenez in Brittany in 2019 and Brought home to Howth.

The Howth 17 has a gaff rig.

The total sail area is 305 sq ft (28.3 m2).

©Afloat 2020