Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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249. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the contingency plans and strategies ready for deployment in the event of a no-deal Brexit in his Department for the agrifood and fisheries sectors as warned by several EU leaders and President Juncker; and the details all such plans. [28629/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department continues to feed into the EU-UK Brexit negotiations, through the whole-of-government approach, to ensure that the post-Brexit environment for the agrifood and fisheries sectors remains the status quo.

Notwithstanding this, and in line with the whole-of-Government approach to Brexit contingency planning, my Department has been engaged in an assessment of the contingencies that may arise in relation to Brexit, and the resource implications for such contingencies.

My Department has been in consultation with the relevant stakeholders through a number of channels. These include DAFM's Brexit Stakeholder Consultative Committee, the All-Island Civic Dialogue process and, more recently, focused sectoral meetings with businesses that have a strong trading relationship with the UK and/or use the UK landbridge to Europe. These meetings have helped my Department to establish the extent of sectoral reliance on the UK market, the potential implications of Brexit for each sector and the possible responses to the challenges presented. My Department has also been analysing the potential practical impact of a 'hard' Brexit on the day-to-day functioning of trade, as well as potential WTO tariffs that might be applied to Ireland's agri-food exports to the UK. In addition, Bord Bia's Brexit Barometer has helped  participating companies to assess their preparedness for Brexit and will be of assistance in the design of strategies to support such companies.

This process is complex, involving many variables, and the detailed assessment is ongoing.