While it would not be practice to prepare contingency plans for the range of outcomes of elections in other jurisdictions, the Government, its officials and our embassy in Washington were monitoring closely developments regarding the US presidential election and were ready to engage with the new US Administration, regardless of the outcome.
It would be premature to anticipate or comment at this early stage on President-elect Trump's specific policy priorities or on our potential responses to them. We are acutely conscious of the particular responsibility of the United States for leadership and engagement across the globe in our endeavours to address shared challenges.
The Government will continue to work constructively and productively to ensure our bilateral relations with the United States will continue to prosper during the next four years, and we look forward to working closely with the new administration in the White House. In the meantime, the Government will continue to engage actively with the administration of President Obama until he completes his term on 20 January 2016.
The Government has robust arrangements in place to address the challenges Brexit poses. The Taoiseach is chairing a Cabinet committee of which I am a member and which is overseeing a whole-of-Government response, including the economic impact, and the negotiations at EU level and with the administrations in London and Belfast. Work is under way across all Departments on the key strategic, policy and operational issues.
The Government's spending plans, outlined in budget 2017, support planning to meet key challenges including Brexit. They provide measures to underpin our international competitiveness, strengthen our medium-term economic potential, underpin the achievement of societal and social objectives and support the effective functioning of the economy. They are prudent and financially responsible, and provide a secure basis for the planning for future economic growth in a sustainable way.