asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if any section of his Department is engaged in the preparation of contingency plans in anticipation of the possibility that neither the United Kingdom nor Ireland is successful in obtaining membership of the EEC as a result of the present negotiations.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Membership of EEC.
38.
As the Deputy will appreciate much of the work of my Department relating to such matters as improving the efficiency of agricultural production and the quality of agricultural products, the elimination and control of animal and plant diseases, educational and advisory services, is necessarily of a continuing nature. It is, however, a matter of routine practice to have full regard to the conditions that would obtain in the event of Ireland being inside or outside the European Community where the Department's work is liable to be affected by that consideration.