Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 September 2018
55. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the role his Department had in co-ordinating all Government Departments in preparing for all case scenarios including a hard Brexit. [37667/18]
View answerThe Government’s contingency planning for Brexit was initiated well in advance of the UK referendum in June 2016 and since my appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade with special responsibility for Brexit in May 2017 I have overseen a sustained intensification of these efforts.
To this end, co-ordination of the whole-of-Government response to Brexit is being taken forward through the cross- Departmental coordination structures chaired by my Department. Contingency planning for a no-deal outcome, bringing together the detailed work being undertaken by individual Ministers and their Departments on issues within their policy remit, was identified as an early priority and is now well advanced. Its focus is on the immediate economic, regulatory and operational challenges which would result from such an outcome. It assumes a trading relationship based on the default WTO rules, but also examines the possible effects on many other areas of concern.
This work has provided baseline scenarios for the impact of Brexit across all sectors, which can then be adapted as appropriate in light of developments in the EU-UK negotiations. This is enabling the modelling of potential responses under different scenarios, such as one where a withdrawal agreement, including a transitional arrangement, is concluded and where a Free Trade Agreement is the basis for the future relationship between the EU and the UK.
On 18 July I presented a detailed Memorandum to the Government on Brexit Preparedness and Contingency Planning. The Memorandum included elements aimed at moving from planning to implementation in a number of key areas and the Government requested detailed follow-up proposals, including in regard to the recruitment of customs officers and staff responsible for sanitary and phytosanitary checks. I presented a further update to Government on Brexit preparedness and contingency planning on 18 September.
Relevant Departments have now been tasked by the Government, on the basis of existing work, to rollout detailed Action Plans with a view to advancing, as appropriate, the mitigating measures which have been identified in the areas of their responsibility from the planning to the implementation phase.
All of this work is in addition to measures that have already been put in place to get Ireland Brexit ready. Dedicated measures were announced in Budget 2018, including a new €300m Brexit Loan Scheme for Business and a €25m Brexit Response Loan Scheme for the agri-food sector. Capital expenditure of €116bn over the coming decade under Project Ireland 2040 will also allow the State and its agencies to properly plan major infrastructure projects while ensuring that communities and businesses can plan ahead. There was also increased funding provided to my Department in Budget 2018 for the opening of six new diplomatic missions. The first two of these have commenced operations in recent weeks. A further seven new Missions will be opened as part of the next phase of expanding Ireland’s global footprint. These thirteen new Missions will be located in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, North America, and Oceania and will contribute to helping develop new markets for Ireland’s exports.
Our Government’s enterprise agencies continue to work with companies, helping them to deal with Brexit - making them more competitive, diversifying market exposure, and up-skilling teams. In total 51 reports analysing the effects of Brexit across a broad range of sectors and in some cases setting out responses have been published to date by Government Departments. All these reports are available on a dedicated Brexit webpage on my Department’s website.
In addition to the work at home, we are engaging actively with the European Commission’s Article 50 Taskforce and its Brexit Preparedness Unit on areas where the lead policy role lies with the EU.
