My party and I would like to be associated with the votes of sympathy to the family of the late Captain Mark Duffy and wish well the recovery efforts still under way for the remaining two missing members of Rescue 116.

I met in Brussels yesterday with colleagues from across Europe to develop proposals to amend the fiscal rules that are constraining investment, investment that is certainly required now but will be much more urgently required into the future. This week, my party published a Brexit policy paper containing 20 specific concrete actions aimed at protecting the Irish economy in the face of the real challenges that are now on their way. Changing the fiscal rules is one of them. Also this week, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and IBEC have called for specific policy actions. Over recent weeks, every party has been talking about Brexit, but in terms of publishing tangible actions, only my own party has now put that on the table.

Ireland faces its greatest challenge since the Emergency. What is required now are not the generalisms that I already heard this morning from the Minister but concrete actions that will be taken. We have put out sensible policy proposals that will make a difference. We are calling for increased investment in a targeted programme to support companies in sectors like agrifoods, which were mentioned already. Among the 20 proposals are a €250 million Brexit trade adjustment fund, the suspension of state aid rules for two years after the UK leaves the EU, an early warning system that encompasses business, trade unions and other stakeholders and a new regional action plan in the Minister's old area of jobs to take the new reality of Brexit on board.

Since last year I have raised the issue of the European globalisation adjustment fund a number of times and we still have no progress on that. We have already seen industries such as the mushroom industry devastated, and the beef and milk sectors will not be far behind if we do not have specific proposals for them. What contingency plans are in place, particularly for a hard Border and dealing with customs checks at our ports and our airports? Is the Government preparing to strengthen our transport links, especially our links to mainland Europe, and invest in our ports, and are there specific strategies to deal with these matters? We are calling for specific recognition of the unique challenges faced by Ireland in the negotiating mandate from the European Council to be provided by the European Commission, with the team to be led by Michel Barnier. Specifically, does the Government support special status for Northern Ireland, which is a matter which has already been voted upon by this House? Can we now hear a concrete line of specific actions? The game has now become real. The actions need to be spelled out in real terms. We do not need more generalisations, but rather specific proposals to make a difference for our people.

I thank the Deputy for his question. There is no doubt that the specific problems that will arise in Northern Ireland have been at the centre of the strategy the Government has been developing. It has been one of the planks of the four priorities the Government has set, and it revolves around making sure that we do not have a return to a hard Border. It revolves around supporting continued North-South co-operation and protecting the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement. All of those have been detailed to a considerable degree, and we have had an all-Ireland civic forum to ensure all points of view are provided for. We have very specific provisions also in terms of a job strategy, with Enterprise Ireland and IDA provisions. We have a capital plan which is being reviewed by the Minister, and it will be very conscious of the infrastructure requirements that will arise from Brexit. We have revised our trade strategy very specifically to look at diversification to the markets where we have the opportunity to grow, anticipating that it will not be so easy in the UK market and that we cannot be so reliant upon it.

I applaud Deputy Howlin's efforts to look afresh at the European Union. I share his view that we need to make sure that the Union, in the future, has a far greater focus on the needs of citizens and delivering for citizens against a backdrop where we have seen a number of faultlines exposed within the structures of the EU in recent years. It is a sad situation that Europe has lost much of the commitment of ordinary people because it has been mired in trying to resolve its issues. It is very important that we start to look to the future. That debate is starting within the EU. The paper recently issued by the Commission is a first start. Perhaps it is not bold enough for any of us, but it begins to open up that debate. There will be a big obligation not just to negotiate the exit of Britain, but beginning later this year, to shape the new Europe that we want to see. I welcome Deputy Howlin's contribution to that debate, and all of the House should be party to it.

Specific proposals have not been made. Making a declaration that there will be no return to a hard Border is not a policy proposal. It is a meaningless declaration. At a minimum, we have said a new Irish protocol to the EU treaty will be required to recognise the common travel area, the Good Friday Agreement and the unique situation that will pertain on the island of Ireland. Is that a Government priority? The Taoiseach has told me previously that the Government will be drafting the Council response to the triggering of Article 50. With regard to the Government's support for a change in the Stability and Growth Pact, which I have been arguing for within my own political family, will the Government argue for its EPP family also to support a change to allow for vital investment?

We have always advocated for a growth policy within the European Union, and we have been strong advocates of that within the EPP. There has been some reflection of that - perhaps not enough - and we need to continue to focus on how we grow a competitive EU and how do we avoid a swing to protectionism, which is a risk within the EU and is something we need to protect against strongly. We have to work together for that, because Ireland has a huge interest in open, competitive borders and not in the closed and restricted borders that some would advocate.

I sympathise with the Deputy asking that I say, "Here is the outcome of two years of negotiations between Ireland and the European Union, and here in detail is how it protects Ireland." That is just not possible. We enter into a negotiating process, we have prepared very carefully and positioned ourselves very well, and we have the support of not only Britain in terms of the priorities we have set, especially in respect of Northern Ireland, but also of many colleagues in the EU. We will see in the coming days that that will be a major consideration early on in those negotiations, and we have positioned ourselves to be successful in the outcome. However, I cannot stand up here and name protections one to ten and detail exactly how each of those issues will be dealt with. That is not the nature of this sort of negotiation, and that is why we have had to put in this degree of preparation. We have to prepare for the unexpected as well as the favoured outcomes.