Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

108. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has undertaken any contingency planning for the effects of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union; and the areas in which this contingency planning has been undertaken and any key proposals he has formed. [19025/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government has a Contingency Framework in place which maps the key issues that will be most important to Ireland in the coming weeks and months. My Department participated fully in and contributed to the preparation of that Framework for the education sector. The Government has published a summary of the key actions that will be taken to address the contingencies arising from the UK's decision to leave the EU. Negotiations on the future EU UK relationship will now be required and officials from my Department will engage fully in these discussions at EU and bi-lateral level.

The peace dividend generated by the Good Friday Agreement has led to wide-ranging and sustained cross-border cultural, economic and political developments. The region has long been recognised internationally has having a special status and has attracted support from successive administrations in the United States, European Union and elsewhere. My Department has been working for many years with our colleagues in Northern Ireland in seeking to encourage cross-border participation in education and training including in relation to pupils crossing the border to attend school and students engaging in the further education system, as well as those coming from the UK and Northern Ireland for the purposes of higher education.

Officials in my Department will continue to work with our colleagues in Northern Ireland in seeking to encourage cross-border participation in education and training including pupils crossing the border to attend school, access to special education needs services, further and higher education. They will also continue to work constructively to try to maintain the greatest possible links and co-operation between the EU and the UK in student and academic mobility and in research activities. We will be endeavouring to ensure the greatest continuity possible in these areas. In this context, officials from my Department will continue to emphasise our very particular relationship with Northern Ireland and the UK in the upcoming negotiations, a fact that is widely understood by our EU partners.

Overall, in relation to upcoming negotiations my Department will work constructively to maintain and support the existing links and cooperation in the education sphere.