Australian ambassador to Ireland Richard Andrews said he understands and sympathises with the immediate Irish concern about Brexit. He highlighted a similar experience his country felt when the UK joined the then EEC.

"We understand very well in Australia what a shock Brexit potentially might be because it's almost the inverse of what happened to Australia in 1973 when Britain and Ireland went into the EEC.

"We used to have preferential trading access into the UK.

"It used to take the majority of our agricultural products and the door was slammed fairly shut in our face almost immediately. That sparked a process in Australia of scouring the earth for new markets and working really hard to gain access to those markets."

Opportunity

Despite the challenges Brexit undoubtedly poses, the ambassador felt there was also an opportunity for Ireland and Australia to build on. He said:

"From the point of view of Australia and Ireland, it presents us with a great opportunity to rediscover a treasure that we've always had but has been a bit buried over the years."

With commonality of language and similarities of legal systems, Ireland has advantages for future EU-Australian relations.

Destination

For example, as an English-speaking country, Ireland is now likely to top the queue as a destination for Australian businesses looking to have an EU presence.

He added: "Brexit gives us a stimulus for ways we can trade on that and build it into something that can make a practical difference. We have a similar legal system, we speak the same language and are comfortable in each other’s company. In the past, we haven’t really done enough with that."

Connections

Ambassador Andrews also highlighted the deep rooted connections between the two countries.

"There are probably no two countries in the world where you could say despite the huge difference between us that we are psychologically closer. There have been Irish migrants to Australia in waves over a period of 200 years. More than 10% of the Australian population is proud to say it has Irish heritage."

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