Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Research published this week by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, showed that a hard Brexit would cost Irish people up to €1,400 per year, with lower income groups being most severely hit. The research is timely and shows the importance of east-west trade and the impact tariffs would have on food imports into this country, an area on which we have not focused greatly. There is still no certainty on how the backstop, with which I will not deal today, will function, or legal clarity in advance of the European Council. It has been reported that each Department has been instructed by the Government to prepare contingency plans and emergency legislation to deal with a hard Brexit. Has that been done? Will the Government publish the contingency plans and the heads of legislation being prepared in each Department to deal with a hard Brexit?

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