Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the Minister's Department is prepared to be flexible but the issue here is about more than that. It is about the additional funds that will be needed. I would like to hear from the Minister that the Government is working, through all its Departments, to put together a package of anticipated needs and then go to Brussels and put it on the table and say that, as a consequence of Brexit, we have many small businesses, particularly in the Border region but across the whole country, that will need additional resources.

We also need additional infrastructure to be put in place. The Minister's Department is key to that. I welcome the funding that came, for instance, to places like the Food Hub in Drumshanbo as small businesses in places like that will need additional resources.

The reason why we are in this position, is because of a conflict between a member of the European Union and the European Union itself. For that reason, it is important that Government seeks the initial funding that it requires.

If Europe is saying it is prepared to stand behind us when it comes to the backstop and all of these matters, funds must be put in place to do this. There is no good in saying that they stand behind us in poverty. That is the way it is going to end up in a lot of areas in rural Ireland where we be do not have the resources or the capacity to build into the future.

The Minister's Department is key to this and he has a role in rural Ireland. As most of the Border corridor is very rural, he needs to come up with the goods in this respect.

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