Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

How many Cabinet committee meetings on Brexit have taken place? In Question No. 9 I ask the Taoiseach for the dates and attendance at meetings of his Department's task force on Brexit. Perhaps he might forward the details to me or indicate if the information is attached to the reply.

The role of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in terms of its relationship with the Department of the Taoiseach, in dealing with the Brexit issue was not articulated clearly in the Taoiseach's reply. I pointed out earlier that the British Government was recruiting approximately 300 people, including trade negotiators and so on. The detail involved is enormous and I am still not clear on whether we have in place a plan for recruitment. We did have a meeting on the issue at the time of the Brexit decision during which the Taoiseach pointed to the possible recruitment of staff to embassies and I indicated the need for a strengthening of embassies across EU capitals and in key areas, including the British embassy and the Irish Embassy in London. Is there an overall number of personnel that we will be recruiting specifically to provide expertise to assist the Government in its negotiations on Brexit? Will the budget provide for a specific "Brexit allocation" to cover staffing, the number of personnel required and the overall national effort in dealing with Brexit? It is essential that we have some clarity on that issue. To be frank, our current strengths are not sufficient to deal with the detail of what is involved. This is not just about trade which in itself is extraordinarily detailed. In the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation there are only a small number of personnel involved in the area of trade policy and enterprise. On the side of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, it is usually the embassies that engage in trade promotion, but the numbers are very low given the enormity of the task involved. I am worried that we have not grasped the enormity of the task and that we are not preparing adequately for it.

In addition to the recruitment of personnel, has the Taoiseach considered appointing a Minister with exclusive responsibility for managing and co-ordinating the Government's efforts in dealing with Brexit, devoid of other responsibilities a Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade or a Minister with responsibility for European affairs invariably would have and so on? It is important we have someone to dot the i's and cross the t's in our preparations for and ultimately the conduct of the negotiations. It is a vast task covering research and development, SMEs, trade and so on which is going to take up an enormous amount of time. During a presentation last week by Mr. John McGrane of the Irish Chamber of Commerce he told us that what we were witnessing was the calm before the storm. Once Brexit is triggered, there will be many consequences.

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