Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 July 2016
332. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of staff dedicated to managing Ireland's response to the decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union; the structure of this team; how it will work with teams in other Departments; who has overall responsibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20299/16]
View answerAt this point in time, the response to the decision of the United Kingdom is being dealt with within the existing organisational structure of the Department of Defence.
As part of contingency planning for a UK EU exit, a number of existing structures are in place and these will be used to manage the process on a whole-of-government basis. These structures include:
- The Cabinet Committee on EU Affairs and the Senior Officials Group that supports it;
- The joint UK Permanent Secretaries/Irish Secretaries General group and its North-South equivalent;
- The identification of a senior official in every Government Department, including in the Department of Defence, to oversee this issue;
- An Interdepartmental group of senior officials, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach, that has been meeting regularly to look specifically at the bilateral and national interests affected by the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
- A wider consultative group of stakeholders, chaired by Department of the Taoiseach, comprising key business representative groups, ICTU and NGOs has also been meeting for some months now. The work of this group will be scaled up and intensified;
- The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade will continue to use the expertise of the Export Trade Council to advise Government on this issue. The expertise of the Council will be focused on the issues arising from the UK’s disengagement from the EU.
- The work of the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Council will become more important as mechanisms to develop the detailed outworking of policy issues arising.
