Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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599. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if there is a senior official with designated responsibility for Brexit matters in her 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 she will make a statement on the matter. [31279/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department’s EU and International section, including Irish-UK Relations, is led by an assistant secretary. The Irish-UK Relations unit has, at present, three additional staff assigned to it. These are two assistant principals, one on a full-time basis and one on a four-day per week basis, and one executive officer on a four-day per week basis due to work sharing.

In addition to the salary costs for the three extra staff referenced above, an additional €10,000 has been assigned to this unit under the Department’s administrative budget to cover travel and subsistence and the cost, where necessary, of facilitating the Department’s Brexit consultative process with key stakeholders. Expenditure, to date, is €6,271.38.

Both staffing and funding requirements are being kept under continuous review.

More generally, the Management Board of the Department of Social Protection has been fully engaged with the social protection implications of the vote by the UK to leave the EU and, indeed, the earlier negotiations on the UK’s relationship with the EU; a sub group of the Management Board is in place and the Board also receives regular updates on the key developments relating to Brexit.