It is three years since the UK voted to leave the European Union, and in that time, there has been a lot of uncertainty about the process itself and about Ireland's future trading relationship with our nearest neighbours.
The uncertainty over the past three years has been reflected in Bank of Ireland's Economic Pulse survey which monitors sentiment among consumers and business.
Dr Loretta O'Sullivan, group chief economist for Bank of Ireland, said the Economic Pulse recorded a large drop in confidence in the wake of the vote, and "it has certainly been the case that Brexit uncertainty has kept a toll on the mood".
"Most recently the fears around a no deal Brexit has ratcheted up, and with that we saw a large impact on consumer confidence," Dr O'Sullivan said. "Consumers became rattled as the whole thing became a bit real for them.
"For businesses, they have been living with it for a quite a period of time, and there the uncertainty has weighed on decisions and they're thinking around investment, and many, they have put their plans on hold."
3 years of Brexit uncertainty takes its toll on business sentiment pic.twitter.com/rphJBAfZC1
— RTÉ Business (@RTEbusiness) June 24, 2019
The Economic Pulse for June shows business and consumer sentiment are relatively soft. The domestic economy is doing fairly well, and people are confident about their own finances but they are worried about the outlook, and what Brexit will mean to the economy.
"It was a sideways moves for firms this June, and again we see a wariness there around Brexit and the outlook for activity in the near term," she said.
The economist said the election of the next Conservative Party Leader in the UK - the next Prime Minister- will affect business sentiment here.
"Prime Minister May has exited stage left, and we don't know who will enter stage right, but the Tory party leadership candidates have talked about the possibility of leaving without a deal.
"For firms and also for consumers, that is not a good thing. We are all very aware that a no-deal Brexit is a bad situation for the Irish economy, so we would expect sentiment to be buffeted over the next period of time by what happens in the UK," the economist said.
