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

The Taoiseach has previously said that we are facing incredibly challenging economic circumstances. The position I was talking about leaving vacant is that of economic adviser who has moved on to perhaps greener pastures. With Brexit coming down the line, questioning our relations with multinational companies and various domestic pressures, the Taoiseach will agree it is not time for business as usual. There are very serious challenges. When the Taoiseach filled this particular economic adviser role back in 2011, he said it was central to co-ordinating work across Government. As we discovered after the election, it was a role which at times appeared to carry more authority than many senior members of Fine Gael. Can the Taoiseach explain to me how the co-ordination of economic policy is now to be done within the Taoiseach's Department, particularly given the enormous challenges of Brexit, enterprise strategy and related issues? How many people will work in the economic area within the Taoiseach's Department?

Is it his intention to publish a White Paper on economic strategy? The only reason I put that question is because it seems to me that following the Brexit decision and the clear evidence that the Trump administration will mean America becoming more isolated and protectionist, we are looking at the prospect of a world that is becoming more protectionist and less amenable to a liberal trading environment. Ultimately, that will be injurious to Irish economic fortunes because we depend significantly on trading our goods and services all over the world. That is the key to our capacity to generate wealth and prosperity for the country. It is often forgotten about here and neglected by many commentators who decry every trade agreement that is ever signed, such as the Canadian trade agreement.

I have heard very little affirmation from anybody on the left, for example, that Ireland should seek international agreements that increase access to markets for our goods and services. Such things are critical to the future of Ireland and have been part of our industrial strategy since the late 1950s and early 1960s when Seán Lemass and T. K. Whitaker engineered a fundamental change in our economic perspectives, making the country more outward looking in its approach to industry, investment and trade.

There is a danger, in the current globalised context, of that changing. Brexit is a fundamental change in our economic structure. It will be a permanent change, if and when it comes about. It is not a passing phase nor a recession but something that permanently alters the structure of the economic model which we have had for 50 years. I do not get the sense that there is a strong economic co-ordinating capacity in the Department of the Taoiseach since the decision of the previous economic adviser to move on to other areas. The Taoiseach might indicate how he sees the challenge of co-ordinating economic policy and he might give more information on his intention to publish a White Paper.

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