Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of full-time and part-time staff in the dedicated Brexit unit within her Department by staff grade in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21956/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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A dedicated Brexit Unit was established in my Department in 2016 and is led at Assistant Secretary level within the EU Affairs, Brexit and Trade Policy Division, to coordinate and represent the Departmental and Agencies response to Brexit and to support me in my position at the Cabinet Committee dealing with Brexit. The Assistant Secretary is supported by a staff compliment of seven (one Principal Officer, three Assistant Principal Officers, two Higher Executive Officers and one Clerical Officer). This Unit also leads on engagement with a broad range of stakeholders to inform and validate our response to Brexit.

Given the wide mission that my Department has, the UK’s decision to leave the European Union continues to impact significantly on all policy fields across my Department as well as our family of Agencies. In this regard, staff expertise has been drawn from across a number of different policy areas and they have been assigned to additional postings across the whole Department that have been most impacted by Brexit. We are continually prioritising the Brexit challenges and will actively keep the staffing requirements under review through workforce planning.