Last weekend the British Prime Minister, Ms Theresa May, confirmed that she would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty before the end of March 2017, thus triggering Brexit. By insisting that Britain pursues a hard Brexit and leaves the Single Market, she has set the British Government on a collision course with the EU in which Ireland, North and South, is regarded as collateral damage. It is very clear that the Tories do not regard Ireland as important in their shenanigans, or Scotland for that matter. This means that the common travel area, the nature of the Border, movement of people, the nature of cross-border and bilateral trade, not to mention the Good Friday Agreement, are now up in the air.

The Taoiseach has been very flat-footed on all of these issues. The referendum result has been known for months but we have yet to see any meaningful propositions coming from the Taoiseach or his Ministers in the intervening period on the key issues and significant consequences for the island, North and South.

I understand the Taoiseach finally brought a memorandum to the Cabinet today. Perhaps he might enlighten us regarding his plans.

I am glad the Taoiseach acknowledged last week that citizens in the North of this island voted to remain within the EU. We need him to advocate for their will to remain. That includes looking at mechanisms that would allow the North to remain within the EU. This task could be undertaken as part of the all-Ireland dialogue he has proposed, particularly in the absence of any formal negotiations until next year. That means much more than a one-day event on 2 November next. There is a chance here to set the agenda, domestically and internationally, before any negotiations between Britain and the EU take place. The sooner representatives of all the key interest groups get around a table to inform and devise a negotiation strategy, the better. Does the Taoiseach agree with yesterday's statement on the issue of Brexit by the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, that none of this is a done deal? It is vital that the Taoiseach leads from the front. Will he inform us of the contents of the memorandum he brought to the Cabinet? The details of that memorandum should have been given to the Dáil rather than being selectively leaked to a newspaper, as seems to have happened.

I do not accept the assertions made by Deputy McDonald at all. She does not seem to have been speaking to her leader. I made a point of briefing the leaders of the Opposition parties, including the leader of the Deputy's party, who complimented the suggestion that there is a need to have a broader conversation rather than confining the conversation to the political parties. For that reason, the first all-island conversation on this matter will be held in Dublin on 2 November next. That will be the first of a number of meetings. All political parties that wish to attend will be invited. We need to deal with representatives of sectoral areas, such as business groups, employers, trade unions, voluntary non-governmental organisations North and South, organisations like the British Irish Chamber of Commerce that participate in the current EU-UK stakeholder group, the Institute of International and European Affairs, European Movement Ireland, local authorities in Border regions, key Government agencies with a North-South dimension to their work, academic institutions North and South like the Centre for Cross-Border Studies, the Royal Irish Academy and the universities and higher education institutions.

I do not accept Deputy McDonald's suggestion that the Government has been flat-footed, as she called it, in this regard. It was the one institution that actually had a contingency plan in place before 23 June, when the British people made their decision. It is appropriate and important for Deputy McDonald to know that I happened to be in a position to visit the newly-appointed Prime Minister very shortly after her accession to that office. I congratulated her on her election. Prime Minister May made it perfectly and publicly clear that she did not want to see and did not envisage a return to a hard Border. Like us, the British Government intends to retain the common travel area, which is so important for us. Like us, the British Government will take clear account of the general trade links between our two countries. These are issues of great importance to us, including in the context of our membership of the EU.

Deputy McDonald was wrong when she referred to this as a one-day conference. It will be the first in a series of meetings that will deal with all these issues and all the areas I have read out. The Deputy was also wrong when she suggested there was no plan here. There was and is a plan. It is very well advanced. I intend to meet the leaders of the Opposition parties again this evening to give them details of the chronology of everything we did in preparation for the vote on 23 June last and everything we have done since then. I ask Deputy McDonald to believe me when I say that much more work is going on in this regard than she realises. Her views will be taken into account as part of the discussions we will have in the time ahead.

I hope Deputy McDonald will speak to her party leader in order that she will know what he is being informed of by Government before she comes into the House and makes allegations such as those she has made today.

If it is a thing that Theresa May assured the Taoiseach that there would be no hard Brexit and no hard border, she has clearly changed her mind. From the statements she made at her party's conference and in subsequent interviews, it is clear that this is what she is minded to do. Finally, we get an inkling into Tory thinking. Brexit is Brexit and Brexit means a hard Brexit.

I say this with the deepest of respect to the Taoiseach - there is no evidence of a comprehensive contingency plan. More worryingly, there is no evidence of any plan whatsoever. The Taoiseach accepts that the people in the North voted to remain. That is the first reality to which we need to anchor all of this. The Taoiseach accepts that the North has a special place and status for many reasons, not least among which is the peace process. That is the second anchor. The Taoiseach accepts, I presume, that for workers, business, agriculture, students and people wishing to access public services, Brexit has the potential to turn everything topsy-turvy. What we need to see now - if he accepts those points - is for the Taoiseach to advocate and plan on that basis. What we do not want is a talking shop. We need dialogue that informs and produces a plan. We have yet to see such a plan.

As Deputy McDonald will recall, on 4 July last the North-South Ministerial Council plenary summit was held here in Dublin. At the meeting, both Governments - because it is the North-South Ministerial Council - signed off on a series of ten particular actions and strategies that we would follow arising from the outcome of the Brexit vote. That matter will be the subject of the next North-South Ministerial Council, which is to be held in Armagh in November.

Deputy McDonald inquired as to whether the Prime Minister said that she has changed her mind. Her colleague, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Brokenshire, repeated today at the Tory party conference that there will be no return to a hard border. He was speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister and the British Government and reiterating what she has said.

Theresa May said the North is coming out. That is the point.

I respect, of course, the vote of the people of Northern Ireland. I respect the vote of the people of Scotland and of Wales. While I did not like the overall result, I have to deal with its consequences.

I want Deputy McDonald to understand that the all-island civic dialogue that will take place will involve a series of meetings to discuss all of the areas I have mentioned. It will allow for a full-scale, detailed consideration of Brexit in so far as it affects people in the North and in the South, our trade with Great Britain, etc. These matters are going to have to be decided politically. We will need to make an ask of Europe in light of the difficulties with which some companies in Ireland are going to have to contend. We will speak to Michel Barnier, the newly-appointed European Union representative in the negotiations, who will visit Ireland shortly.

The Government made it clear today that there will be continued engagement with parliamentarians throughout the island, the North-South Interparliamentary Association, the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. I invite Deputy McDonald and her party to participate in these discussions because they will lead to decisions being made and they are in our interests.