Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I first acknowledge that the Taoiseach deserves to be congratulated for actually getting the EU - in its various position papers and outlines - to acknowledge the critical issue of Ireland. When will the Taoiseach publish the Brexit paper on economics and trade? In this Chamber we have talked a lot about Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit, and for very understandable reasons. An issue that does not get much attention, however, is the hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Republic of Ireland that may be adversely affected by a hard Brexit. The Taoiseach's friends, the Conservative Party in England, at this very moment is campaigning in the English broadsheets and tabloids and in other media such as radio and social media for a hard Brexit, for leaving the Single Market and for leaving the customs union. It will cause devastation in many sectors of Ireland's economy over the next three to ten years. The Taoiseach said some nice things about what he might do. The Labour Party has proposed a trade adjustment fund of €250 million. Does the Taoiseach have concrete proposals for addressing the economic and trade issues on Brexit?

There is also the slow seepage out of information that there will be ghost custom posts, maybe 20 km north and south of the Border, with all the implications we understand for Donegal, Derry and the north west of the North of Ireland. It is extraordinary that the Government is so silent on this matter given that Teagasc has recently stated the duties on beef, for example in a WTO situation, will run as high as more than 60%.

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