Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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492. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 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 Brexit unit; the cost to date; the anticipated cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37993/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Additional capabilities and resources have been assigned across my Department to address issues arising from the complex process of the UK exit from the EU. At Headquarters the key Divisions are the European Union (EU) Division and the Ireland, UK and Americas (IUKA) Division. The EU Division is headed at Second Secretary General level and IUKA Division is headed at Assistant Secretary General level. Both divisions have been assigned additional resources.

The European Union Division has a dedicated team focused exclusively on the EU-UK negotiations, led by a senior officer at Counsellor level. Within the IUKA Division, there is a Brexit-specific policy co-ordination function in place and there are teams focused on Northern Ireland and on wider British-Irish Relations; their duties include Brexit-related issues.

There is also an intra-Departmental senior management group focusing on issues relating to the UK exit, chaired by the Secretary General and comprising senior officials from across all relevant business units of the Department.

To support the complex and intensive negotiation process, my Department received an additional €3.2 million as part of the 2017 allocation. This facilitated the transfer back to my Department from the Department of the Taoiseach of 14 staff to a new, enlarged, European Union Division.

The Department has also allocated an additional budget of €2 million. This budget will be used to increase the number of staff assigned to the management and support of the negotiations and to increase the level of support provided to our colleagues across all Government Departments and agencies.

The measures my Department put in place to manage the initial phase of our response to the UK decision to leave the EU remain under review. The Department will allocate additional staff resources as deemed necessary to further augment our level of support across Government and across our network.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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493. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of staff deployed full-time in his Department in respect of Brexit; if there is a designated section or unit to deal with Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38009/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Managing our response to Brexit has impacted on the work of many staff at Headquarters and a significant number of those overseas. Additional staff have been assigned to the key Divisions with responsibility for Brexit matters, the European Union Division and the Ireland, UK and Americas (IUKA) Division, to cover the issues arising from the UK exit process.

The European Union Division has a dedicated team focused on the EU-UK negotiations, led by a senior officer at Counsellor level. Within the IUKA Division, there is a Brexit-specific policy co-ordination function in place and there are teams focused on Northern Ireland and on wider British-Irish Relations; their duties include Brexit related issues.

For operational and service oriented units like the Passport Office and Consular service, there has been a marked increase in demand for passports and citizenship via foreign birth registration from applicants in Northern Ireland and in Britain. We have responded by recruiting over 230 temporary and fulltime clerical officers assigned to our Dublin, Cork and London operations.

Many business units of my Department at headquarters in Dublin are involved in some way as part of the response to the UK exit, for example, the Legal Division, the Trade Division and the Policy Planning Unit.

There is also an intra-Departmental senior management group focusing on issues relating to the UK exit, chaired by the Secretary General and comprising senior officials from across all relevant business units of the Department.

Overseas, additional posts dedicated to issues relating to the UK exit have been assigned to our Embassies in London, Berlin, and Paris as well as the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union in Brussels, which has a unit dedicated to managing our response to this issue.

It is important to emphasise that our approach has not been merely to recruit or assign additional staff, but rather also to prioritise Brexit in the work of our entire network. The Department may require additional staff resources if it is deemed necessary to further augment our level of support across Government and across our network.