Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Planning for the potential implications of the result of the referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union is particularly challenging. Until Article 50 is invoked by the UK, the precise timescale for the UK's withdrawal from the EU is not known. The economic impact of the UK's exit from the EU will also very much depend on the nature of the new arrangements to be agreed between the UK and the EU.

The Government has adopted a contingency framework, co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach, to map out the key issues that will be most important to Ireland. Priority issues identified in the framework include UK-EU negotiations, British-Irish relations, Northern Ireland, trade, investment and North-South Border impacts. As outlined in the framework, the impact on enterprise and trade in Border counties will be monitored closely.

The summer economic statement, SES, published last month, sets out the Government's medium-term strategy for sustaining economic growth and for budgetary policy. The proposed budgetary strategy for 2017 is not expected to change materially following the result of the UK's referendum on EU membership. The majority of components feeding into the expenditure benchmark calculation for 2017 are included the European Commission's 2016 spring economic forecast and, based on the forecasts in the SES, the 2017 budgetary strategy is consistent with compliance with the balanced budget rule.

As noted in the summer statement, the Department of Finance will prepare a full macroeconomic projection in advance of budget 2017. The public capital plan published last September set out an Exchequer spend of €27 billion over six years. This includes key investments in transport, education, health and enterprise. In every part of the country where these are delivered, they will boost our competitiveness, sustain jobs and upgrade our social infrastructure.

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