Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it is a very serious issue. It will be profound if it is not satisfactorily resolved by dialogue. A trade war would have a very serious impact on GDP and GNI, in other words, the income of the nation. It could potentially have a serious impact on employment. It is the most serious challenge facing this Government. We had a number of meetings on Monday in respect of it, the Tánaiste and I with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure, in terms of the various scenarios that could unfold. I have engaged with a number of companies, as have the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance, and with our State agencies. We are working through this. It is very serious and will dwarf anything we have been discussing here in the past 48 hours. Given the profound nature of what could happen, it really is a huge reflection on the Dáil that we are having major rows about eight minutes and so on.

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