Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the members for their questions; if I forget any or skip any it is not intentional. Please let me know if I do.

Senator Craughwell asked about Brexit and the concept of the hard border. As we have said throughout this entire process, and in particular over the past year, our preparation for all possible outcomes has increased. This ranges from the best possible outcome, where we have a close and comprehensive free trading relationship with the UK, to a no-deal scenario. We have been working with all Departments and Ministers, who have been asked to identify the possible challenges they and their industries, sectors and Departments may face in that regard. They have been asked to identify possible measures, be that funding, changes to legislation or additional supports or measures, they would need in those scenarios. They are doing this without the knowledge of the full extent of what might happen, but as much as they can. Each Department, if it has not already done so, is now preparing a report or action plan to be put in place. Those plans have not been published and given that we are still in negotiations, it is not something that would be published. In the interim, we have been trying to support businesses that have been impacted already. There is such uncertainty out there. Some €750 million from the past three budgets has been provided to directly support small and medium businesses. This year alone, an extra €115 million was allocated to support Government agencies to continue with expanding programmes such as Global Ireland 2025, which seeks to expand our horizons beyond the UK and Europe to the rest of the world by doubling our global footprint. Many measures have already been put in place. We are making contingency plans for when we know what the actual outcome will be.

We are not preparing for a hard border, to answer the question the Senator asked. We are looking at customs and checks for east to west transportation of goods because we know that, even with the best possible outcome, there will still be some changes. Funding was approved in this year's budget for more than 500 staff, including customs officials and officials for Revenue, sanitary or phytosanitary checks. The remainder will be allocated in time, but we are not preparing for a hard border between North and South on the basis that every political party, the UK Government, every member state, the European Commission, the European Parliament and indeed the Irish Government have all committed that there will be no return to such a border. We believe that, irrespective of the outcome, we all need to maintain and uphold that commitment.

There was a proposal to reduce the overall Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, budget. We do not agree with that at all, and I have consistently reiterated at every General Affairs Council I attend how important it is, not just for our rural farming community but for our towns and villages, for the production of food and for all the reasons I outlined in my earlier presentation. We recognise that there are other priorities which need to be addressed, and our farmers in particular are very willing and ready to work with the environmental pillar to ensure that anything they do can help to mitigate the impact of climate change and reduce our carbon footprint. The EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Phil Hogan, is very much in favour of co-operation and allowing both of these agendas to work together to reduce our carbon footprint, while at the same time supporting our farming and rural communities. We should be able to do that. This is an ongoing discussion within the European Parliament, the European Council and in the General Affairs Council, of which I am a member.

We have always indicated that we would be willing to pay more in the upcoming budget, but only if CAP and the Cohesion Fund are protected. The latter are traditional programmes which we feel provide added value to Europe.

There were a few questions on the future of Europe and subsidiarity. One of the early questions on the future of Europe discussion related to whether Europe should do less more efficiently and whether it should be big on the big things and small on smaller things. We feel we should focus on the areas to which we are already committed. There was considerable discussion on the Single Market. The Single Market is only 80% complete in the context of goods and 40% complete in the context of services. The digital Single Market, which people are saying will be like the fifth freedom, is only approximately 30% complete. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, recently suggested that completing all three would add €1 trillion to the overall GDP of the European Union. While it is not all about the economy, when that money is coming back into our economy we can obviously use it to improve our social settings as well as invest in our infrastructure and other key areas for us. Our focus is to continue the work we have promised to do but obviously we would not be particularly fond of anything that would suggest further treaty change, which is often asked.

Senator Craughwell referred to education and training. The new Erasmus+ programme is not just for people who attend university; it can apply to students in primary school or secondary school, or people working in trades and possibly even outside the European Union. I attended an event last night at which a question was asked about people from Africa taking part. I am of the view that even something like this would be possible under Erasmus+. It is about broadening the horizons and ensuring that as many people benefit as possible.

Senators Richmond and Coghlan and Deputy Haughey asked about Hungary. Many things are happening with which I and the Government disagree. On the rule of law, dialogue with Poland has been ongoing for some time. It reached a point where the ongoing dialogue was not making an impact. That was obviously when Article 7 was triggered. We have had two hearings within the General Affairs Council and will have another hearing next week. Through that dialogue we have started to see progress and change. The EU is built on dialogue and we all agree that is the best way to address issues.

Of course, if a country is not upholding the core values of the European Union, there must be accountability and we need to be able to hold each other accountable - we would expect the same to happen in our case. The debate on Poland is continuing. We have seen changes but we need to see further change. With Hungary, we are probably starting at the beginning of that process. On the many occasions I have met my Hungarian colleagues, I have encouraged them to engage with the Commission. There is a legal process we need to follow. Ultimately, the key priority for us is to see results.

Senator Richmond asked how much we are using Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020. Approximately 55,000 students have availed of Erasmus since it began and since Ireland took part. We can always improve that and increase our numbers. We are focused on that particularly with Erasmus+. There is an increased focus on languages with the publication of the languages strategy in September by the then Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Bruton. We want to increase by 25% the number of students taking two languages in the junior certificate and leaving certificate. I hope the renewed focus on languages will encourage people to study abroad, to travel to other countries and to become more integrated in that sense. Obviously, further work remains to be done and we need to focus on it.

On EU jobs, we are only reaching approximately 40% of our target regarding graduate programmes. We are significantly lower than we should be. We have always had a very proud tradition of holding very high positions within the European institutions. It is not because of any reduction in calibre, but unfortunately the numbers are decreasing. Many people are reaching retirement age and we do not have the same level of people applying. We are asking the Commissioner to provide geographic-specific competitions to target countries that have the same problem as us. Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden hold views similar to ours. We are having an ongoing discussion but if we do not address the issue now, we will have increasingly less representation around the table within the institutions and we know how important that can be.

Senator Richmond asked about Brexit. I do not know whether the changed predictions happened on foot of last night's vote or whether the idea of a no-deal scenario has changed that.