Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy said, the focus of the task force of the Irish and British Governments at the moment is to try to come up with a framework within which trade can continue in the future. In order to protect ourselves from an additional risk of a disorderly Brexit, we are doing three things. The first is to have our national finances in as strong a position as possible in the event of a further exceptional shock in the future, which is why I place great value in a rainy-day fund and in trying to have our books as broadly balanced as possible.

Number two is about the influence we can have in our own economy. It is the reason we are increasing capital investment in schools, colleges, public transport and our road network, to build up the resilience and competitiveness of our economy in the future.

Third, sector by sector we are putting measures in place to support the sectors as they move through areas of risk. I point to the loan funds we have in place now for SMEs and the agrifood sector, one of which is enabled by support from the European Investment Bank.

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