As we know, the Brexit result is one of the greatest challenges that this country has faced for many decades. The air of uncertainty has already impacted consumer confidence and sentiment and investments across the EU, in particular in the UK and Ireland. There is also an air of uncertainty about how prepared Ireland is for what we are facing. Unfortunately, we are not yet Brexit proof.

The future relationship between Ireland and the UK will depend on the latter's priorities during negotiations and the extent to which the European Commission and other member states can and will accommodate Ireland's specific needs. It is well accepted that Ireland will suffer more from Brexit than any other member state. The German chamber of commerce confirmed this during the week, as did the report published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office.

The UK's importance to Ireland socially and economically is obvious. Last year, our exports to Britain amounted to €15.6 billion, of which beef was worth €1.9 billion. Other exports included medical and pharmaceutical products and food-based products. The agrifood sector across this island is exceptionally worried and is projecting job losses in the first and second quarters of next year. We are told that those jobs will be labour intensive and rurally based in the main.

If the euro climbs to 90p, there will be a drop of at least €700 million in Irish exports and a potential loss of 7,500 jobs, which will affect every region. We do not have to remind the Minister that the agrifood sector employs people in every county across the country. It does not believe that the Government is prepared enough for Brexit. The recent all-island civic dialogue on Brexit, while welcome, must now be backed up by practical initiatives in order to protect jobs.

Industry cannot be left feeling isolated while 18 months of negotiations take place. During the week, the EU negotiator, Mr. Michel Barnier, stated that negotiations would be completed by the autumn of 2018, so the pressure is on and a hard Brexit without any deal being in place may be the result, given the differences in and hostilities of the positions on all sides.

Employers are requesting that an enterprise stabilisation fund be set up to allow them to tackle the sterling depreciation that has already hit up to 370 jobs in the mushroom industry. Has the Government any response or plan to introduce this? Industry is crying out for assistance that would allow it to innovate, diversify and expand market access in the face of Brexit. For example, it has requested online trading supports and trade finance measures to allow for the fact that Ireland is one of only two EU countries without a state-backed support for export credit.

Has the Government taken any tangible decision on any of these requests? As the UK edges closer to invoking Article 50, what will the Government do to ramp up our preparedness for Brexit?

It will not be a surprise to anybody to hear the Government has put a huge priority on managing and navigating our way through what will be a difficult period as we build up to Article 50 being triggered and then the consequences of that afterwards. As the Deputy has pointed out, we have had an all-island civil dialogue already. We have had a North-South Ministerial Council that focused specifically on the issue. The Taoiseach, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and other Ministers are working towards getting a common agreed approach on the island of Ireland towards the outcome that we are looking for, across parties in Northern Ireland and across parties in the Republic.

I know more than most the reliance the Irish agrifood industry has on the British market. We are talking about a €7 billion trade relationship each year. Approximately half of our beef exports and 43% of agrifood exports go to the UK so I certainly do not need reminding of that and neither does the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed. That is why we have a special unit within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which has already been set up for quite some time now. It has had multiple meetings with its counterparts in Northern Ireland to look at ways in which we can insulate and protect this country from currency changes and the potential consequences of a fallout from Brexit.

Let me make two things very clear. First, Ireland will not allow itself be forced to take sides, either on the British side or on the EU side, because we cannot afford to do either. Ireland needs to remain close with the UK in terms of our political and trade relationships and we will do so. We also need to be a proactive, strong and positive member of the European Union in the context of trying to manage the fallout from Brexit. Second, we will prioritise looking after Irish interests, whether they be Irish citizens in the UK or in Ireland or further afield. We have taken multiple actions to date in order to do that. No country in the European Union is even close to Ireland in terms of the level of priority and preparedness that we already have in place for the negotiations that are on the way.

The Minister said in his response that he has taken multiple actions but he did not outline any of them. He mentioned the all-Ireland civic dialogue which took place. I attended that myself. Organisations such as Enterprise Ireland, the IDA, InterTradeIreland, the Centre for Cross Border Studies, the Economic and Social Research Institute, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, IBEC, ISME and all the industry representatives point to serious job losses in the first half of next year. The Minister did not give us any concrete comfort here today or any detail of decisions the Government has taken to mitigate that.

Equally, if we look at, for example, the tourism industry how will the millions of people who visit this country from Europe be impacted in terms of border control? What will happen to people transiting from this jurisdiction to the North of Ireland? We hear a lot of rhetoric from the Minister. He said we will be Brexit-proofed and that we will be ready but he did not give any specific, concrete measures. Will the Government put money on the table in terms of enterprise stabilisation funds for industry? Will the Government properly resource the IDA and Enterprise Ireland? The Government has said extra headcount will be provided for those organisations but that has still not followed through. Will the Minister please outline some specifics on the issue?

With respect, it is a little naive to start asking for detail as to how border controls will work before we even have a formal political negotiation between Britain and the European Union under way. Our job is to ensure that there will not be a need for border controls. The political engagement is intensive at senior civil servant level and also at a leadership level within Government Ministries - both here, in Northern Ireland and in London - and that will continue.

In terms of tangible actions that have been taken, in the agrifood sector we have introduced a new low-cost agrifood fund for food companies and farmers that need to finance business growth and need low-cost finance to do that to help deal with the competitiveness challenge that clearly exists since the changes in value in sterling. We are taking practical measures on the ground to help businesses and individuals, through the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and setting up a focus group within the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Brexit.

It made recommendations to the Department of Finance for the recent budget. Subsequently, a series of practical measures were put in place to try to insulate Ireland from the potential fallout from Brexit. We anticipate formal political negotiations beginning towards the end of March.