As the closest neighbour of the UK, culturally and geographically, you would expect that we here in Ireland have a good insight into their national mood. However we were as shocked as anyone in the early hours of June 24th to realise that they had ignored the warnings of economists, allies and their own government and voted to leave the European Union group of 28 countries. We have had calls from many suppliers and customers the last few days asking us why this happened, and what happens next. There seems to be a consensus about the ‘Why’. Firstly, there are a lot of angry working people who feel that globalisation is not working for them. Even if the UK economy takes a hit from Brexit (as predicted by nearly all international bodies and economists) the feel the current economy is not working for them as it is. The EU seems to be a lightning rod, in many cases unjustly, for this anti-Establishment reaction. The second major reason is immigration. 330,000 net immigrants came to the UK in 2015. Less than half of these actually came from the EU but the Remain side could not convince voters that these EU migrants brought economic benefits. The Leave side’s more emotional argument about ‘taking back control’ of their immigration rules struck a chord with people. We hope this is not a sign of what will happen with the American presidential election in November. So what happens next? The truthful answer is nobody knows. Sterling has hit a 30-year low against the US dollar. The dollar and Euro have both strengthened, the dollar more so than the Euro. UK shares, investments and pensions are taking big hits. Many economists are predicting recession in the UK. Scotland wishes to remain in the EU and is threatening another independence referendum. However the situation has not settled down yet. The UK now needs to negotiate its exit from the EU, which could take more than 2 years. They will need to negotiate new trade deals with the EU-27 and with many countries globally. No markets will be unaffected. And there are many unanswered questions for the long-term viability of the EU project. We will monitor developments over the coming weeks and months and ensure that customers are kept totally aware of all measures that will affect their business following this significant event.