Writing in The Irish Times today, the Tánaiste said that Irish preparations for a no deal Brexit are accelerating. He stated:

All departments have already examined the legislation that will be required for no deal. Priority will be attached in the new year to giving this legislation Dáil and Seanad time. Political support across the Dáil will be necessary to do this. Some measures have to be kept confidential at this stage in the national interest.

It is apparent that the current withdrawal deal is facing real difficulties. Most commentators in Britain believe that it has no prospect of passing in the House of Commons. Will the Government publish the list of legislation that will be passed in the event of there being no deal and a disorderly exit at the end of March? We have a window over the Christmas recess for those of us in opposition to scrutinise and give detailed consideration to those sets of Bills if they are to come before us early in the new year, as the Tánaiste has indicated. Will the Taoiseach commit to giving party leaders a briefing on the secret Bills as the Tánaiste refers to them and the detail of the administrative preparations going on now to avoid a hard border and maintain the supply chains needed in this economy?

We will do that once it is finalised. We are happy to give the party leaders a briefing through the stakeholders group in the meantime. It cannot be finalised until mid-January because the legislation that would have to be enacted in the event of a no deal Brexit would be at European and domestic levels. We have to clarify what would be done at European level-----

For clarity, this is not a stakeholders' issue; we are not talking about the Industrial Development Authority, IDA, or anything else. This is a parliamentary briefing. If legislation is necessary urgently, we should be preparing for that in Parliament so that we can hit the deck running on whatever legislative preparations are needed, rather than have broad discussions with everybody. I put that to the Ceann Comhairle too.

That is a fair point. This is the Legislature that will have to enact that legislation and we will be happy to share it once it has been finalised. We can give party leaders a briefing informally before that but it cannot be finalised until we know what European legislation will be brought in because some of this will be done by EU directive and regulation and some will have to be done domestically.