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

With reference to plans, we have put in place the necessary legislation to protect the rights of citizens and support businesses in the event that there is no deal. The legislation was signed by the President on St. Patrick's Day. I acknowledge the co-operation of this House and the Seanad in getting that important legislation through. I hope it will not be needed, but it is done and was enacted well ahead of time.

Tomorrow the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, and the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, will launch the future Brexit loan scheme to provide finance for businesses which may need it in order to adapt their businesses in the event that Brexit happens. We have secured the common travel area through a bilateral convention with the United Kingdom, making sure there will continue to be free travel between Britain and Ireland and students from the North and the South and cross-Border workers will not be affected. We have developed a package of measures that we can put in place very quickly to support jobs and incomes in the agrifood and export sectors, with a series of loan arrangements that we can put in place to intervene to rescue and restructure businesses to turn them around in the event that there is no deal.

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