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

Making the case for supporting measures at an EU level that recognise where Brexit represents a serious disturbance to the Irish economy is a key pillar of the Government's response to Brexit. I am satisfied that there is a firm understanding at an EU level of the unique and disproportionate impact that Brexit will have on Ireland.

Last March, the Tánaiste met EU budget Commissioner Oettinger when he visited Ireland and discussed with him the negative consequences to the Irish economy resulting from Brexit and the possibility of EU assistance. In November, in its contingency action plan, the Commission confirmed that it would support Ireland in finding solutions addressing the specific challenges of Irish businesses.

Officials at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and its agencies have been working closely with the European Commission and Directorate General for Competition since November 2017 through the Irish-EU technical working group on state aid. Through the mechanism of the technical working group, Ireland has fully utilised the provisions of the state aid framework to enable the investment by Enterprise Ireland of €74 million in Brexit impacted businesses in 2018.

On 24 January 2019, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, met the European Commissioner for competition, Margrethe Vestager. The focus of the meeting centred around the severe challenges that Irish businesses will face when the UK leaves the EU and the need for appropriate and timely State supports. The Commissioner emphasised that the Commission stands ready to act urgently in mitigation against the impacts of Brexit on Irish firms.

The Stability and Growth Pact provides flexibility for budgetary requirements in certain circumstances. One such provision relates to unusual events outside of the control of government which have a negative impact on the budgetary position. If the impact of a disorderly Brexit were to be severe, the Government could make a case for an application for the use of the so-called unusual events clause, which permits temporary deviations from our medium-term budgetary objective or the adjustment path towards it. This could facilitate extra spending linked to the disorderly Brexit as long as it does not endanger our medium-term budgetary sustainability.

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