Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2018
493. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the contingency plans and strategies ready for deployment in the event of a no-deal Brexit in his Department for all rural and community development programmes and funding supports; and the details of such plans. [28815/18]
View answerMy colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Simon Coveney, T.D., has the primary responsibility for leading on Brexit negotiations, and my Department is contributing on an ongoing basis to discussions, and is providing policy advice relevant to its remit, as and when required.
The comprehensive document “Ireland and the negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union: The Government’s Approach”, published on 2 May 2017, outlined in detail the structures put in place by the Government to ensure a strategic and whole-of-Government response to Brexit that ensures a coordinated approach to the identification of key priority issues for the EU-UK negotiations, and the wider domestic response.
Since the publication of the comprehensive document, the Government has sought to further increase its strategic oversight of Brexit through the addition of a dedicated responsibility for Brexit matters as part of the role of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Cabinet Committee structures have also been reformed and new Cabinet Committees relating respectively to the Economy, and EU Affairs, including Brexit and the Economic Response to Brexit, have been established to provide an opportunity for cross-departmental input into the issues.
My Department has been established to deliver on the Government’s commitment to bring a greater degree of coordination and cohesion to all of the work of Government in so far as it impacts on rural Ireland and communities.
The impact of Brexit on regional and rural businesses and on communities is relevant across a number of policy areas of my Department. In this context, considerations around the impact of Brexit are shared across different policy areas.
Project Ireland 2040 (National Planning Framework and National Development Plan 2018-2027) and existing strategies and programmes within the Department such as the Action Plan for Rural Development and the Framework Policy for Local and Community Development in Ireland, provide a strategic and co-ordinated policy approach supported by tangible actions and reflect a shift towards a more pro-active approach to rural and community development.
My Department will continue to explore new areas of policy to supplement and advance ongoing work across Government which will contribute to both rural economic development and more balanced regional development and can therefore mitigate against the negative impacts of Brexit that may impact on these communities.
