Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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86. To ask the Minister for Finance the further preparations and contingency plans his Department has put in place in the event of a British exit from the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34096/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Finance has been assessing and preparing for the impact of Brexit since well before the referendum on 23 June 2016. Work was carried out in the Department to assess the potential economic and financial sector implications arising, including the commissioning of an ESRI study published in November 2015, and ongoing liaison with the Central Bank. This work was undertaken within the whole-of-Government framework established by the Department of the Taoiseach.

Following the results of the UK referendum, this preparatory work has been intensified across the Department. A new Brexit Unit within the EU and International Division was established in July 2016 to oversee and coordinate this work and to act as a key liaison point with the Department of the Taoiseach, in particular. In addition, the Department of Finance staff complement in the Irish Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels has been strengthened. Resourcing for Brexit is being kept under review.

As part of Budget 2017, the Department of Finance published the Economic and Fiscal outlook which presented a full macroeconomic projection including updated estimates of economic growth, the public finances and the fiscal space, taking account inter alia of the impact of Brexit. The Department also published 'Getting Ireland Brexit ready' which set out a number of measures to mitigate the initial impacts of Brexit. In addition, the Department published detailed analysis of sectoral exposure to Brexit across the economy. More recently, the Department has worked with the ESRI to deepen the macroeconomic analysis and a report titled 'Modelling the Medium to Long Term Potential Macroeconomic Impact of Brexit on Ireland' was published on 7 November 2016.

The work being done by the Department will be an important input to ensuring that Ireland's interests are protected in the upcoming negotiations at EU level. More generally, the Department will continue to monitor the economic impacts and to frame budgetary policy advice in this new context. The best and most immediate policy under the Government's control is to prudently manage the public finances in order to ensure that Ireland's economy continues to remain competitive in the face of future economic headwinds. In this context, Budget 2017 signalled a lower debt target of 45 per cent of GDP for the mid-to-late 2020s. This will help to provide additional fiscal 'shock absorber' capacity to the public finances to help withstand any shock including the impact of Brexit. This will complement the contingency or 'rainy day' fund to be established following the achievement of a balanced budget in 2018 which will help provide a further counter-cyclical buffer.

In relation to Financial Services, Minister of State Murphy T.D. has responsibility, and will continue to drive forward the IFS 2020 strategy in order to build on and compete for mobile international investment in the IFS sector. Additionally, the Government has made a public declaration of interest for the relocation of the European Banking Authority to Ireland.