THE Dublin government is pressing Brussels and London to allow Northern Ireland businesses to export around the world using EU free trade agreements.
Although the Northern Ireland Protocol permits goods from the region to move unfettered throughout the EU, exports to the rest of the world would be restricted because the north remains in the UK's customs territory.
The EU has dozens of free trade agreements with countries like Canada, Japan and South Korea.
According to RTÉ, there have been warnings that if the anomaly is not addressed it will have major implications for businesses, with the dairy sector especially vulnerable as around a third of milk produced in the north goes to the Republic for processing.
Dairy Council chief executive Mike Johnstone told the broadcaster that the sector would be "exposed" if present trade routes were blocked as the north did not have the capacity to process all the milk produced in the region.
Mr Johnstone said the loser would be "dairy farmers on the island of Ireland".
There is also expected to be implications for companies from the south whose goods contain components manufactured north of the border.
The Irish government has raised the issue with the European Commission and the British government, and EU-UK Joint Committee, which is tasked with implementing the protocol.
However, it appears the European Commission would have to reopen all of its trade agreements with third countries to ask partners to accept Northern Irish goods as EU produce – something it is reluctant to do as there may be reciprocal requests for changes by co-signatories.
Britain would also have to ask the EU to do this and so far that request has not been formally made.
Senior figures have indicated that the issue is unlikely to be resolved before the Brexit transition period ends on January 1.
