Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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66. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the action he has taken on preparing for Brexit. [8426/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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A key area of concern is the impact of Brexit on the current reciprocal arrangements for social insurance and social assistance schemes and child benefit between Ireland and the UK, including Northern Ireland.

I met with the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Right Hon. Damian Green, M.P. on 2nd February 2017. Prior to that meeting, I also met informally with Mr Damian Hinds, Minister for Employment, UK Department of Work and Pensions at the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council [EPSCO] on 8 December 2016.

At both meetings, I emphasised that our long-term objective is to ensure that the reciprocity of civic rights and, specifically in the context of the meeting, social welfare rights and entitlements, which currently exist for Irish and UK citizens moving within Ireland and between Ireland and Britain under the Common Travel Area [CTA], are safeguarded and maintained. Both meetings were very positive and constructive.

The Department of Social Protection [DSP] has undertaken an initial assessment of the implications of Brexit on social welfare schemes and clients cohorts. This work will now be further informed by the All-Island Sectoral Dialogue that I hosted on Thursday, 16th February. The theme of this stakeholder engagement event was ‘Brexit: implications for social welfare pensions, social insurance and social welfare rights-entitlements’. The event was a citizen-centred and client-focussed forum, attended by some 40 people from civil society and representative groups, business, trade unions and academia.

Internally, within DSP, the Management Board has been fully engaged with the social protection implications of the vote by the UK to leave the EU and the earlier negotiations on the UK’s relationship with the EU. A sub-group of the Board was established, following a decision of the Management Board in November 2015, to prepare for the impact of the UK referendum. An Assistant Secretary has specific responsibility for the Department’s Brexit response and is a member of the InterDepartmental Group on EU UK affairs, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach. Regular updates are given to the Management Board.

In addition, a cross-Divisional group covering policy, operational policy, systems and key support areas has been established to examine the detail of the implications of Brexit for clients of the Department and DSP’s operations. The Department has also strengthened its own resources by redeploying additional staff specifically to work on Brexit-related issues and internal co-ordination.

Senior DSP officials service the relevant cross-Departmental Brexit-related committees that have been established. I am a member of the Cabinet Committee on Brexit as well as being a member of the North-South Ministerial Council and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.