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

The Deputy referred to three issues. First, the impact on our economy of the response to what has happened in the US was modelled in the paper published by the Department of Finance and the ESRI.

The response of the EU to this will become clearer in the time ahead and we will aim to influence that and, of course, be part of it.

Second, the Deputy is correct; the issue of the implication of all of this across trade flows on our island is an important matter. The Government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, will now have to engage closely with colleagues in the Government of the United Kingdom and obviously within the Northern Ireland Executive as well to look at how we can understand and deal with this issue.

Finally, in terms of how we then deal with the issue of supports for companies that are affected, tomorrow, the Tánaiste has convened a trade forum where the different representative bodies of the employers that are affected by this will be present. We will look, through the Industrial Development Authority, IDA, and Enterprise Ireland, EI, at what response can be put in place but our first priority at the moment is to look at negotiation and see whether we can avoid the worst becoming permanent.

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