As every Member agrees, Brexit poses the most serious challenge to this country since the foundation of the State. We have already seen the policy decision to devalue sterling cost the agrifood industry some €470 million in the last few months alone. Today, the UK Government publishes its White Paper on Brexit which might give an indication as to how it proposes to manage the Brexit negotiations when Article 50 is eventually signed next month. Despite the platitudes on all sides, it is clear that we are not prioritising Brexit to the extent we must to address the effect on our economy. Yesterday, we had to depend on listening to the debate in the House of Commons to find out what the plans and the effects on this country will be. The Secretary of State, James Brokenshire, addressed the House of Commons and agreed with the DUP's Sammy Wilson that to give Northern Ireland a special deal would be the wrong approach. It is clear that there will be a hard Border. This morning, Mr. Lux of the EU Commission went into extraordinary detail to outline blue and red channels for goods crossing the Border. This situation is totally unacceptable and comes within 48 hours of Prime Minister May talking here about the need to avoid a return to the old Border situation.

The question is what we are going to do about this. Does the commentary of Mr. Lux this morning not clearly underline the need for Ireland to build an alliance against what is a very fast emerging hard Brexit for this country with a hard Border and red and green channels where heavy goods vehicles and others will have to be called in and checked? He said some of it will happen with the benefit of technology while it will also require Border posts and staff. This is a seriously retrograde step. Brexit has the potential to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement and to impact seriously on Border communities which are already struggling in the context of damaged trade. We have heard constant platitudes from the Government about an all-of-Government approach. We need a Minister for Brexit, appropriately resourced, and the Government must immediately publish a plan about how bilateral negotiations with Britain will go and, more particularly, how negotiations are going to go with the EU Commission. It is essential that Northern Ireland is granted a special deal to secure the future of this entire nation economically, socially and politically.

Does the Tánaiste accept that there is a very real and serious risk facing Ireland with the implications of the Border controls confirmed this morning by Mr. Lux? Is the Government accepting that Borders are going to be put in, which Mr. Lux suggested this morning? Can the Tánaiste outline the position to the House?

We are under absolutely no illusion about the nature and scale of the Brexit challenge and we have a clear and comprehensive plan. That has been evident in our approach to date. The Taoiseach has made his own views absolutely clear on the fact he is leading on this and will continue to do so.

All Ministers across Government are also involved as part of comprehensive planning and reaction to the very serious challenges we face as a country. We are absolutely clear.

To continue to talk about a lack of preparation is not the approach that the main Opposition party should take, from a reputational point of view as far as Ireland is concerned. It is very clear that the Government has done deep analysis across all areas of the Brexit network. There are 11 working groups. A significant amount of work has been done in my Department. I will meet the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, on Monday to continue the discussion. It is very clear that the top-level priorities have been identified, namely, trade, economy, Northern Ireland, the peace process, the common travel area and the future of the EU. We have examined the risks, the mitigating factors and what is needed.

The House of Commons has now passed the first stage of the Bill, allowing the Prime Minister to notify the European Union of the intention of the United Kingdom to leave. We are now in a different situation, in that the first formal step has been taken and more is to come in terms of the legislative process and the publication of the White Paper. It will be useful for us to deepen our preparations and, at EU level, detail our priorities. There are ongoing meetings with different sectors, industry and civic society. The all-island dialogue will continue. Another meeting will be held very shortly.

I do not have time to go into the enormous programme of engagement that has been undertaken by the Taoiseach and other Ministers. Let me reassure the House that very intensive and detailed work has been done on all of the implications. Until Article 50 is triggered, formal negotiations will not begin.

Our plan is having an effect. Chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, has named four initial priorities. Deputy MacSharry referred to Northern Ireland, which is one of the priorities. I met Mr. Barnier and his team, as did the Taoiseach and a number of other Ministers, and had detailed discussions about our priorities for Brexit. We made our position on not returning to any type of a hard border very clear. His other priorities include protecting the common travel area, which is one of Prime Minister Theresa May's 12 negotiation priorities. When there is greater clarity from the British side, we will be in a position to continue to ensure that our headline priorities are centre stage in our contact with the UK and across the EU and in all the meetings we will continue to have with EU heads of state.

It is time that we were honest with the people. The Tánaiste keeps telling us how busy she is and how much work is being done. However, Mr. Lux let the cat out of the bag today and spoke of red and green channels. The Tánaiste needs to clarify this for the people. Some six weeks ago, traffic was funnelled from the M1 onto the N1 at Ravensdale in order to allow customs guards and social welfare personnel to screen traffic. Is this a dry run for what we can expect in the future? It is time the Tánaiste outlined the plan clearly to the people. Far too much is at stake. Can she confirm that additional staff and resources will be exclusively assigned to the issue of Brexit so these matters can be dealt with?

In response to the Deputy's dramatic statements, no decisions have been taken yet and no negotiations have begun. I do not think he should anticipate the outcome at this point. We have heard from many commentators and there are many opinions and individual comments, but we are not yet in negotiation mode, as the Deputy knows. We have had comments from many different European commentators.

This is a decision that has been taken by people in the UK and their Government. We are engaging with every member state to explain our unique issues, and that is progressing well. Of course the process will intensify in the period ahead. Every initiative that we can take is being taken at this point. In my meetings with my Northern counterpart and other meetings next week, we will discuss the applications for civil and criminal law, of which there are many. A significant amount of work needs to be done. There is very intensive engagement within and across Departments at this point, highlighting the priority of this issue for us as a Government.