Ms Patricia King:

I might just answer the question about our contacts in the UK. We have ongoing contact with the TUC and no later than last week we had a conference call with the general secretary of the TUC about all of this.

To be fair, the Irish Government and the Department of Foreign Affairs facilitated them coming to Ireland and having direct discussions, but they are very concerned about a race to the bottom in a no-deal scenario. They are very well acquainted with the possibilities and the consequences of that, and indeed the possibilities of it happening. Without straying into party politics, from their point of view, the current UK Government is more likely to engage in that sort of behaviour in the UK than not, so they have huge concerns about it. We are an all-island body, so the Northern Ireland aspect to this is a matter of grave concern to us, and we have worked hard with the Northern Ireland Executive and the TUC on all of the issues linked to the Northern Ireland aspect that affect workers. We are onto that and they have grave concerns, as we do, about the future.