Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we know, the Brexit result is one of the greatest challenges that this country has faced for many decades. The air of uncertainty has already impacted consumer confidence and sentiment and investments across the EU, in particular in the UK and Ireland. There is also an air of uncertainty about how prepared Ireland is for what we are facing. Unfortunately, we are not yet Brexit proof.

The future relationship between Ireland and the UK will depend on the latter's priorities during negotiations and the extent to which the European Commission and other member states can and will accommodate Ireland's specific needs. It is well accepted that Ireland will suffer more from Brexit than any other member state. The German chamber of commerce confirmed this during the week, as did the report published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office.

The UK's importance to Ireland socially and economically is obvious. Last year, our exports to Britain amounted to €15.6 billion, of which beef was worth €1.9 billion. Other exports included medical and pharmaceutical products and food-based products. The agrifood sector across this island is exceptionally worried and is projecting job losses in the first and second quarters of next year. We are told that those jobs will be labour intensive and rurally based in the main.

If the euro climbs to 90p, there will be a drop of at least €700 million in Irish exports and a potential loss of 7,500 jobs, which will affect every region. We do not have to remind the Minister that the agrifood sector employs people in every county across the country. It does not believe that the Government is prepared enough for Brexit. The recent all-island civic dialogue on Brexit, while welcome, must now be backed up by practical initiatives in order to protect jobs.

Industry cannot be left feeling isolated while 18 months of negotiations take place. During the week, the EU negotiator, Mr. Michel Barnier, stated that negotiations would be completed by the autumn of 2018, so the pressure is on and a hard Brexit without any deal being in place may be the result, given the differences in and hostilities of the positions on all sides.

Employers are requesting that an enterprise stabilisation fund be set up to allow them to tackle the sterling depreciation that has already hit up to 370 jobs in the mushroom industry. Has the Government any response or plan to introduce this? Industry is crying out for assistance that would allow it to innovate, diversify and expand market access in the face of Brexit. For example, it has requested online trading supports and trade finance measures to allow for the fact that Ireland is one of only two EU countries without a state-backed support for export credit.

Has the Government taken any tangible decision on any of these requests? As the UK edges closer to invoking Article 50, what will the Government do to ramp up our preparedness for Brexit?

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