Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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285. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 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. [20295/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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A dedicated unit has been established within my Department’s EU and International Trade Division to plan and coordinate the Department’s response to the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. Initially comprised of three people, including the Head of the Division, the Unit reports to the relevant Assistant Secretary General. The Unit will also draw on expertise from all parts of the Department and its agencies. It inputs to the Government’s central Contingency Framework co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach, and co-ordinates the work of the Consultative Committee that I recently established to ensure a full exchange of information between stakeholders, as well as co-ordinating the work of the contact group of state agencies recently established by the Food Wise 2025 High Level Implementation Committee.

The unit is currently consolidating the work already undertaken in identifying the main challenges presented by a UK decision to leave the EU with a view to prioritising the key issues of relevance to the Irish agri-food sector that will have to be addressed during the exit negotiations. These negotiations may not commence for some time, but when they do, and when the likely nature of the post-exit relationship between the EU and the UK begins to become clearer, the unit may be expanded as required.