The UK’s decision to leave the European Union will have major ramifications for Irish and UK businesses, according to some of Ireland’s biggest law firms.

The legal profession has responded over the past few days to the shock Leave victory in Thursday’s referendum, where UK voters opted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the EU.

In a statement published online, Mason Hayes & Curran said Ireland “will soon be the only English speaking and common law member of the EU and this will make it the logical gateway to the single market”.

Michael Jackson, managing partner at Matheson, appeared to agree, saying: “We believe that Ireland’s position as an English speaking gateway to one of the world’s largest markets will be even more significant than in the past.

“Given our proximity to one of the world’s largest markets, we have already seen some of our clients move or plan to move some or all of their operations or business lines to Ireland in order to retain access to the European market.

“We now have a new reality, one to which we must quickly adapt.”

A&L Goodbody has set up a Brexit mini-site with a summary of the likely withdrawal procedure, together with some suggestions as to how businesses with UK trading relationships and/or operations might begin to assess the legal consequences for them.

Arthur Cox said it anticipated the principal changes in UK law to be in banking and financial regulation, consumer law, tax, competition law, insolvency, employment law, procurement law, data privacy, intellectual property, and energy and natural resources.