€1,300 each: the bald price of a hard Brexit

ALMOST two years since the Brexit referendum, there is still something of a hypothetical air about the whole business, a sense that, while we know it will come to pass, it still seems a bit unreal.

Obviously there are major concerns surrounding the border, but as things stand, and despite the best of assurances, we still have no concrete understanding as to how it will affect us in real terms.

So to hear from the Economic and Social Research Institute, as part of a detailed study involving some 4,500 household goods, that a hard Brexit would cost the average Irish household up to an additional €1,360 every year brings a dose of reality to proceedings.

Such a hike in household spending when it comes to normal, everyday goods imported from the UK is nothing less than shocking.

Indeed, among other eye-openers from the survey, many people will be extremely surprised to find that in Ireland, we actually import some of our milk.

It is worrying, therefore, to learn that the price of the likes of milk, cheese and eggs could soar by as much as 46%.

Obviously, people can change their buying habits to some degree in order to ameliorate the effect of the higher prices, but, nevertheless, families will inevitably find themselves landed with more substantial bills for general household produce.

Nor must the wider economic implications be discounted; price inflation on any level is always a daunting and worrying prospect.

Yet that is the potential reality of the Brexit fallout, which is why it is so important to address this issue head on – and to do all that can be done right now to avoid such a scenario.