Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lawless for raising this matter. A central co-ordination unit in regard to Brexit has been established in the Department of the Taoiseach. In regard to my own Department, given the breadth and diversity of policy and operational areas that are relevant to the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union, this is a matter that has an impact on, and is being monitored by, all the divisions across my Department.

Since the announcement of the UK referendum result on 24 June, as part of my contingency plans, I have established a co-ordination group within my Department consisting of relevant enterprise, Single Market and trade officials, together with the chief executive officers of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, to oversee the management of our immediate response, including messaging to businesses both at home and overseas. I chair this group and will continue to do so as part of my Department’s ongoing response as developments unfold at EU level and bilaterally with the UK. In addition, the EU affairs unit of my Department exercises a dedicated overall co-ordination role across all the relevant policy areas, and represents my Department in the work that is being undertaken at cross-government level, led by the Department of the Taoiseach, in response to the outcome of the referendum. This facilitates the framework for my Department’s interaction with other Departments in this regard.

The North-South unit of my Department, which co-funds and provides strategic oversight for InterTrade Ireland, the North-South enterprise development body, is actively working with that body to ensure that it will review and adjust its supports if necessary as new trading rules and regulations emerge. I have met with representatives of InterTrade Ireland.

The management board of my Department, chaired by the Secretary General, meets weekly and co-ordinates the Department's own response across all its divisions to the referendum outcome. As I have previously indicated, a team of senior officials from my Department visited London on 1 July to discuss Single Market and trade issues in light of the referendum outcome.

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