Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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899. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the contingency plans her Department has put in place to address the impact on Ireland of Brexit; if she has met her counterpart in the British Government and the Northern Irish and Scottish administrations to discuss this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22717/16]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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As outlined previously, my own Department has been, and will continue to be, fully engaged in the risk analysis and contingency planning work that is being undertaken at cross-Government level, led by the Department of the Taoiseach.

Since the announcement of the UK referendum result on 24 June, as part of my contingency plans, I have established a Coordination Group within my Department consisting of relevant enterprise, single market, and trade officials, together with the Chief Executive Officers of IDA and Enterprise Ireland, to oversee the management of our immediate response, including the messaging to businesses both at home and overseas. I chair this Group, and I will continue to do so as part of my Department’s ongoing response as developments unfold at EU level and bilaterally with the UK.

Also on that day, I met with representative business organisations, including IBEC, ISME, the SFA, and the Irish Exporters Association, to provide an update on immediate responses to reassure business in the aftermath of the result.

Since then, I have had meetings with a range of other representative organisations, including American Chamber of Commerce Ireland (AmCham), Dublin Chamber of Commerce, and the Irish Farmers Association.

I have written to my newly-appointed counterparts in the new UK Government – Liam Fox, the Secretary of State for International Trade, and Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – to confirm my intention to work together with them as the upcoming negotiations develop, and to request an early opportunity to discuss our priorities.

In the weeks prior to the referendum, I met with the UK Trade and Single Market Ministers, Lord Price and Baroness Neville-Rolfe (both of whom are continuing in office in the new UK Government), and I will be meeting with the EU Commissioners for Trade, and for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs respectively, at an early date.

In addition, a team of senior officials from my Department visited London on 1 July to discuss Single Market and Trade issues in light of the referendum outcome. Officials will continue to stay in contact with relevant UK counterparts, including through the continued working at EU groups in Brussels.

The enterprise agencies under my remit also continue to deliver on their commitment to supporting business in this period of heightened uncertainty.

My Department will continue to work closely with the Department of the Taoiseach and the enterprise agencies and other Departments to monitor the impact of the UK referendum result both on indigenous and international companies. Our immediate focus must be on communications and supporting business and investors in relation to shorter term concerns. As the position of the UK as regards both the timing of its planned exit negotiations and the nature of its desired relationship with the Union following exit clarify, we will be focussing on the strategic interests of the enterprise sector.