Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps that is why it has not given much cause for concern over here. We have the convention of the bilateral arrangement.

Regarding the concerns people might have about delay and paperwork, the ambition is that Irish people living in Britain and who are in receipt of an Irish contributory pension or child benefit payment will not notice that it is 30 March at all and that there will be no changes whatsoever. The same will be true if one is a British citizen living in Ireland or Northern Ireland and receiving any contribution towards a payment under the schemes I listed earlier. One will notice no difference. I can say that comfortably for two reasons. Either the ratification of the convention we signed on 1 February will have taken place and will become a legally binding international bilateral convention that is recognised and becomes law or, in the event of that not happening, with the co-operation of the Dáil and the Seanad we will pass this lengthy miscellaneous Bill, which will allow me to continue to make the payments that we are currently arranging. There will be no delay or exchanges of paperwork other than the information that flows between the UK agencies and Irish agencies with regard to social security that happens now.

The Senator is correct that we probably have not yet told citizens exactly what will happen. If I were to absolutely guarantee today that people do not have to worry about anything and everything will be fine, as sure as eggs are eggs something will happen next Tuesday and I will not be able to guarantee. However, our intention and the intention of the two Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions I have worked with over the last 18 months is that when somebody wakes up the day after the United Kingdom leaves, whenever that may be and it might not be 29 March, the arrangements for social security and all the schemes I outlined earlier will be exactly as they were the day before. In addition, the common travel arrangements we have had with regard to education, healthcare, work and social security will be exactly as they were for many generations.

On the Senator's last question, there is no such thing as a good Brexit. I believe I heard a Deputy earlier this week call it a stable Brexit. I do not agree. I do not believe there is anything that could be called a stable Brexit. This will not be good for any section of Irish society or, in my opinion, for society in the UK. Given the impact it will have on businesses throughout this country I have no doubt that it will have an impact on the live register figures. We have started analysis and we will be starting detailed preparations as to what we can expect and how to provide supports for the people who will be impacted negatively arising from what may happen in the next few weeks. Our contingency plans are to ensure that we minimise as much as possible for the Republic and that we have activation measures and supports for industry in place to ensure the least worst Brexit outcome that is possible for Irish citizens.