Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I thank the Tánaiste for his comprehensive statement on the UK withdrawal. Everybody here has talked about the profound implications for this country. A no-deal exit will bring lasting damage at every level. I tend to concur with Senator McDowell when he says the UK Government has no intention of getting a deal. It is playing silly games by bringing up various non-papers. It is a bit embarrassing. It is prepared to throw the baby out with the bathwater and many of its supporters in England will support that because they have been led to believe that this will make Great Britain great again. Anybody living in Ireland who holds a driving licence from the North or Britain must exchange it for an Irish one before 31 October in case Britain leaves the EU. After that date, if there is a no-deal Brexit, such a driving licence will be invalid in the South and one will not be allowed to drive here. British licences are older, made of paper and last for 30 rather than ten years. Many people's licences, therefore, will have a lot of time to run yet. It is believed that approximately 70,000 people resident in the State have such licences. While 30,000 people have swapped them, the other 40,000 have thus far failed to do so. It is not a problem of advertising. We have all heard the advertisements and the encouragement to take action, and people are informed. Rather, the problem for the majority is the cost. One might ask why one should swap one's licence when it will not expire for another 20 years. One will be charged €55 to obtain a ten-year licence and, therefore, one might not understand the rationale for that. The cost is prohibitive for many people. We need to examine the matter urgently and to propose an idea for a decreased cost to persuade people, or even to propose that there be no cost. There will be great challenges but people are just waiting for 31 October to see what will happen. For drivers working for businesses, not least small businesses whose staff must drive up and down the country, it will have an impact.

Brexit will also have an impact on the supply of medicines. Is there an update from the HSE as to what it believes that the impact may be, both in this State and the North? When the Brexit process kicked off a long time ago, I asked about the all-Ireland breast milk bank, which is in the North. Have we worked out how that will operate following what may be a severe no-deal crash out? Perhaps the HSE is working hard to provide medicines and the all-Ireland breast milk supply.