Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to helping businesses to prepare for Brexit, the Government has a public information campaign, Getting Ireland Brexit Ready, which is designed to warn businesses and stimulate them to take the actions they need to take to prepare for Brexit. In the past two weeks alone, for example, there have been outreach events in eight counties, and more are planned. The all-Ireland civic forum on Brexit will take place on Friday. I will be part of it. An array of financial and practical supports, including the Brexit SME Scorecard and the Be Prepared grant, are available from Enterprise Ireland. There is the Prepare for Brexit regional roadshow and Brexit advisory clinics are being run by Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices. The Brexit Start to Plan voucher is being provided by InterTradeIreland. Brexit Barometer seminars, workshops and training are being run by Bord Bia. The Get Brexit Ready programme for the tourism industry is being run by Fáilte Ireland. There are Revenue trader engagement programmes to assist businesses and familiarise them with customs processes and so on. Also, there is a €300 million long-term loan scheme to assist strategic capital investment after Brexit. More than €450 million was allocated in loans already to businesses in previous budgets.

We also continue to engage with the European Commission on challenges for business. The Commission has acknowledged those challenges exist and states it will stand ready to help us to find solutions. I encourage all businesses and other organisations to take the necessary steps to prepare for a no-deal Brexit, if not already doing so.

To answer Deputy Doherty's question on my dinner with the UK Prime Minister, she indicated the UK Government had changed its position on the backstop for the simple reason that she was unable to secure a parliamentary majority in favour of it.

On insurance, I am afraid I do not yet have certainty on the issues raised by the Deputy. I am trying to get a full briefing on it that I fully understand. I have not yet got one. I understand, however, that it may be possible for some of the insurance companies to waive the requirement for a green card for a period, but that has not been bottomed out yet.

On the budget, budget 2019 was designed with Brexit in mind. It provides for a budget surplus and a rainy day fund. It provides for a €1.5 billion increase in capital spending or record levels of investment in healthcare, housing and education. Therefore, we will not need a mini-budget in the event of a no-deal Brexit but it is likely that, rather than going into surplus, we will go into deficit.

That is the right thing to do, quite frankly, if we end up in sort of that economic scenario as it would allow the automatic stabilisers to take effect. It will not mean a requirement for a mini-budget. It will not mean increased taxes or cuts to spending, welfare, pensions, or any of those measures that people experienced ten years ago. We do not need to enforce those kinds of measures on people again precisely because we have balanced the books and we are running a budget surplus. We will run a deficit if we need to and it will be a modest deficit, as the Deputies have seen from the Central Bank and Department of Finance projections.

We may need Supplementary Estimates for certain sectors, for example, to support the beef industry, agrifood and business that will be adversely affected by Brexit. That will not change. When people hear reference to a mini-budget or a Supplementary Estimate, they think it means the Government will come along and raise taxes or cut services, pensions or welfare. None of that will happen, or is even being contemplated, because the public finances are in such good order. That will not happen in a no-deal Brexit but there will need to be Supplementary Estimates and supplementary budgets to support businesses, agriculture and the agrifood sector in particular, small exporters and others who need funding to restructure and save their businesses and the jobs they provide, in some cases.

I have met Mr. Olly Robbins on many occasions and he is a very capable civil servant. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on words that were overheard in a bar. It would not be right for me to form any conclusions based on it.

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