Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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629. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality 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. [37996/17]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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630. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality 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. [38012/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 629 and 630 together.

The International Policy Division within my Department has been assigned responsibility for coordinating the Department's work as it relates to matters concerning UK withdrawal from the EU. The Division is headed-up by an Assistant Secretary and comprises a team in Dublin and a team based in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU in Brussels, currently consisting of thirteen officers in total.

This figure includes an additional post to the Permanent Representation to support the Brussels based aspects of the forthcoming negotiations which was filled in July 2017, and an additional post in the Dublin team filled last month.

Complementing this, six senior officers from each of the key areas in the Department (who are in turn supported by relevant staff) have been selected to make up a cross Divisional working group to focus on the key negotiating issues.

The possibility that additional staffing resources may be required to work on Brexit related issues has been flagged in the Department’s Workforce Plan. This is being kept under review and weekly progress updates are provided to the Department's management Board on the analysis and preparations underway. Costs incurred are being met from the Department's overall budget, and those related specifically to Brexit cannot be readily extracted from overall ongoing work in the Department.