Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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405. To ask the Minister for Health if there is a senior official with designated responsibility for Brexit matters in his Department; if so, the grade of the designated official; the funding allocated to the said Brexit unit; the cost to date in 2017; the anticipated cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31275/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy Secretary General, Policy and Strategy Division, and the Assistant Secretary, R&D and Health Analytics Division, are the lead officials in my Department for planning and co-ordination on Brexit matters. The Department of Health participates fully in the Senior Officials Group on EU Affairs, the Interdepartmental Group on EU/UK Affairs, and its workgroups established to support the Cabinet Committee on Brexit.

The Department established a Management Board Subcommittee on Brexit in advance of the UK referendum, to examine the implications of a decision to leave the EU. The Subcommittee is chaired at senior level and made up of representatives from across the Department, as well as from the HSE, which is represented at National Director level. The Subcommittee reports to the Management Board on Brexit. In addition to the Management Board Subcommittee, an Interdepartmental/Interagency Group, chaired by the Assistant Secretary of the Primary Care Division, has been established to prepare a bid for the relocation of the European Medicines Agency on foot of a Government Decision at the end of October 2016.

Brexit raises many issues across a wide range of areas that need to be addressed. Work on each specific issue will be led by the line Units with policy responsibility. Units have built up the necessary expertise and contacts with their UK and EU counterparts over time to enable them to examine and address the implications of Brexit in their area. In this way, work on Brexit-related issues is being mainstreamed throughout the Department.

Within my Department, International and Research Policy Unit provides a coordinating function in relation to Brexit just as it does for other international matters and North-South cooperation. The Department has a full-time EU health attaché stationed in the Permanent Representation in Brussels, who is in regular contact with International and Research Policy Unit and other Units throughout the Department. Resources allocated to Brexit in my Department are kept under ongoing review.