Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. This legislation is to ensure that the status quoremains and that everything happening between Ireland and the UK will continue to happen after Brexit. That is the most important aspect. What we are dealing with now is the back end of the work to ensure that people on the ground can continue to receive their payments and benefits seamlessly. That is the purpose of this Bill.

Arrangements with the EU are more comprehensive than other bilateral agreements, including, for example, with the USA. The arrangements we have with the UK mirror those with the EU. I do not have a figure for the number of bilateral agreements that we have and I will have to respond later to Deputy Ó Cuív with an answer. I honestly do not know how many we have-----