Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, nobody can give a figure today for what Brexit will cost. We simply do not know. The Bill is primarily about the maintenance of the status quoin being able to continue to give grants to students, facilitate travel, healthcare and so forth. In fact, the absence of this legislation would involve an increased cost too, for example, if we could not use Altnagelvin Area Hospital. It works both ways. Much will depend on what Enterprise Ireland does and the amount of money it has available to it. We can come up with an estimate, but most of the elements of the legislation do not have a significant financial cost attached to them. They are about protecting in law what has been facilitated until now by joint EU membership. However, there are other areas that could be very expensive in providing support packages for vulnerable sectors. That is why we are lucky we have set aside a rainy day fund. It is a significant fund which, if necessary, we could use in an emergency. That is the reason a supplementary budget will not be required.