Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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537. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport 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; the anticipated cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31281/17]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Brexit has the potential to have serious adverse economic impacts on transport and tourism and as a result has been identified as the main strategic risk facing the Department. The Department in response has organised itself internally to address this risk. While all relevant areas of the Department are actively engaged in Brexit related work and consultations with stakeholders, overall responsibility for the preparation and coordination of the Department's response to Brexit has been assigned to the Head of Function of the Policy and Governance Coordination Division.  Brexit issues relating to Tourism are managed by the Head of Function of the Tourism Marketing Policy and Impact Assessment Division. Both Heads of Functions are at Principal Officer level. The Minister and Management Board members are also actively involved in reviewing the implications and response to Brexit.

The Management Board keeps under review the Department's internal organisation and structures for Brexit to ensure that they remain robust in addressing the evolving Brexit situation.  As part of this ongoing review, the Department yesterday restructured part of its internal organisation in order, inter alia, to facilitate a greater focus on Brexit by the Policy and Governance Coordination Division as it moves into the negotiation phase. The additional cost to the Policy and Governance Coordination Division arising from Brexit activities, outside of staff costs, is estimated to be €50,000 in 2017, of which some €10,000 has been incurred to date. The need for additional funding will be kept under ongoing review.