Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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110. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of staff dedicated to managing Ireland's response to the decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union; the structure of this team; how it will work with teams in other Departments; who has overall responsibility; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20300/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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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.

As part of this contingency planning, a number of existing structures are in place and will be employed to manage the process on a whole-of-government basis. They include the Cabinet Committee on EU Affairs and the Senior Officials Group that supports it. The Department of the Taoiseach chairs an Interdepartmental group of senior officials that has been meeting regularly to examine the bilateral and national interests affected by the UK's withdrawal from the EU. My Department is represented on this Group. The work of this group will now be scaled up and intensified.

At Departmental level, Management Boards are making the appropriate arrangements to ensure the operation of Department-wide oversight and stakeholder engagement. A senior official in my Department has already been tasked to coordinate work in this area, including representation on the Inter-Departmental group, and is being supported by the Management Board and his own team and by contributions from across the Department as needed on all aspects of contingency planning and analysis. As such, structures are in place to progress work on the Department's response and to prepare for any negotiations that may be required.

The preparation, analysis and planning work will proceed now and in the coming weeks and months the issues identified in my Department's area will be further analysed and actions developed as necessary to meet the challenges as they arise. The question as to whether as to whether additional structures and resources are required will also be considered.