David Murphy. RTE (Dublin). Friday, October  21, 2016.
It’s five months since Britain voted to leave the EU.
The Brexit result stunned the markets. But the immediate question was: What would the UK quitting really mean?
So far nobody knows. But there has been a significant impact on sterling…
The currency fell dramatically from 76p against euro to 81p on 24 June, immediately after the referendum result became clear.
It had another tumble in early October after the Tory party conference, and dropped to 91p against the euro (it is currently at 89p).

The Tory conference heard British Prime Minister Theresa May outline what sounded like a plan for a hard Brexit.
She said: “We will do what independent, sovereign countries do. We will decide for ourselves how we control immigration. And we will be free to pass our own laws.”
Some days later she told Westminster that she wanted to Britain to have as close a relationship as possible with the Single Market, while not accepting EU immigration.
At the EU Summit in Brussels this week she said after Brexit “we still want to trade freely in goods and services in Europe, and the UK will continue to face similar challenges to our European neighbors”.
It is clear Theresa May is tailoring her message to her audience. She also would like to see the UK enjoy the benefits of free trade without accepting EU immigration. However, other EU leaders have ruled that out.
Foreign exchange markets can’t make sense of Britain’s position. They can’t figure out if there will be a hard Brexit, so sterling has remained weak.
British politicians had gambled that European industry couldn’t face the risk of fewer sales in the UK and therefore would not force Britain out of the Single Market.
The argument put forward by pro-Brexit politicians is the German car industry would not want a levy imposed on their products in the UK after Britain leaves the Single Market.
However, that argument has been shown to be untrue. Matthias Wissmann, the head of the German car industry, said: “The UK is an important market for the German car industry, but the cohesion of the EU27 and with it the Single Market is more important for this industry.”
In other words, if a drop in car sales to the UK is the price of stopping other countries from leaving EU, it is a price worth paying.
None of this is good news for Ireland because it increases the prospect of a hard Brexit, and the UK leaving the Single Market.
It means there is a stronger likelihood of tariffs being imposed on exports from Ireland to Britain, which is one of our most important trading partners.
Weaker sterling is already having a negative impact on retailers, particularly in the border area as more Southern shoppers travel to the North.
Exports from Ireland to the UK are becoming less competitive. This is particularly damaging for the agri-food sector.
The effects are already being felt with five of Ireland’s 60 mushroom farms having gone out of business since the Brexit referendum.
So five months after the referendum the prospect of a soft Brexit, with limited damage for Irish industry, seems remoter than ever.