TRADING ACROSS THE IRISH SEA

Dublin-based Irish Farm and Garden Machinery (FGM) decided in 1990 to make their presence felt in the UK market. It was two years before the Maastricht Treaty so there were no free trade arrangements in the EU until 1 January 1993. Then everything got easier - until Brexit that is.

 

So it was a case of Out, In, Out for FGM.

 

Paul Butterly, md of Farm & Garden Machinery describes the early days on the most recent Inside Agri-Turf podcast when he was even able to take a lawnmower across the Irish Sea on Ryanair. “And I was under strict instructions from my father Pat not to bring it back. I can’t see Mr O’Leary permitting lawnmowers as baggage these days when they seem to want to charge for stuff like handbags.”

 

Paul describes how the company has decided to handle the extra admin and paperwork themselves, particularly as it is difficult to find an agent these days.

 

He talks about his concerns about escalating freight costs due to a lack of containers, and says that there a few instances where machines such as hedge trimmers and chainsaws may end up attracting double tariffs if the machine are routed via different entry points.

 

There is current considerable debate about the status of Northern Ireland since the UK left the EU, but with the border running down the Irish Sea he says that supplying products to dealers in Northern Ireland has got much easier due to the lack of a hard border.

 

Paul Butterly and FGM have a particular insight into the challenges posed by Brexit with two branches, one in the EU near Dublin, the other FGM Claymore in Warwickshire in the UK. This has resulted in changes to the way that goods are transferred between the two entities. 

 

He says, "We see it from both sides, as a Sender and Receiver."