Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The question relates to the Cabinet committee on Europe. I listened very carefully to the statement the Taoiseach made to the House yesterday on the conclusions of the European Council meeting last week. One of the things he said intrigued to me and I underlined it. It was when he said that in particular we, presumably Ireland or perhaps the Council, asked the Commission to give timely consideration to unilateral and time lined contingency measures that are in the European Union's interest. He went on to say this is an important message that is of great relevance to Ireland. I ask the Taoiseach to address my intrigue and tell us what exactly he means by this. What are the unilateral contingency measures the Taoiseach envisages will be implemented by the European Union on Brexit? Does it mean deploying additional resources? Does it mean new legislative provisions? What exactly is the Taoiseach saying on this? As he knows, money is available under the Brexit adjustment reserve fund of €5 billion. I am interested to hear in his response whether the Taoiseach has a sense of what measures will be funded from this or how the money is to be deployed. Has this been part of the discussions to date?

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