In February, the Minister for Finance warned that Brexit could cost at least 40,000 jobs. This week, the Department of Finance and the ESRI have warned that a disorderly Brexit could cost this country 80,000 jobs. Some of these job losses would be due to lower economic growth and lower job creation. There is also an obvious real risk to tens of thousands of current jobs. What is worse, these jobs are concentrated in certain economic sectors and certain regions, as the Taoiseach has acknowledged. Food exporters, many of whom only export to Britain, are particularly vulnerable to tariffs that may arise.

The UK has signalled that tariffs will be in place for dairy and beef products, but other sectors are also at risk. Many manufacturers rely on materials and components sourced in Britain. This is a reality of the global supply chain. Those who look to Britain for imports will be under pressure. Any tariff or restriction on imports from Britain will impact on the capacity of all manufacturers to export to other countries, which will impact on their bottom line. It will affect their competitiveness, including their ability to produce goods quickly enough in the just-in-time global economy. Another risk to Ireland is the potential for collapse in the euro-sterling exchange rate. Wild fluctuations could have devastating effects on many businesses.

The Labour Party's core concern is the impact of Brexit on jobs and livelihoods. The Taoiseach has made a bold claim that the Government will protect incomes and jobs and will support businesses "whatever happens in the next few weeks". My understanding is that the EU has agreed to approve state aid to the value of €200 million. Is that the case? With 80,000 jobs at risk, surely that cannot be true. A total of €200 million in soft loans is not enough, and it is not the correct type of support for the potential impact on jobs that would flow from a hard Brexit. Labour has joined the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, in calling on the Government to make sure that at least €500 million is available to the new Brexit preparation fund. We can subsidise the most vulnerable firms in the event of a hard Brexit. It is likely that more than that amount will be required if the impact, as set out by the ESRI, actually comes to pass.

Will the Government commit to ensuring that there is no legal impediment to the putting in place immediately if a hard Brexit happens in the next couple of weeks of the supports necessary to maintain jobs in our economy? Will the Government confirm that it will provide direct subsidies to crisis hit firms to maintain jobs in the worst-case scenario?

It is worth pointing out that we are doing a lot already. We have already made low-cost loans available to businesses. The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, will launch the next of those loans on Wednesday, the future growth loan, which will enable businesses to get finance so that they can restructure, change the products they make and reorient to new markets if they need to do so. We have been putting endless supports in place in the last couple of months, ranging from loans-----

Endless?

Not endless, but substantial. We have put loans in place, as well as hosting seminars and producing information. That process is ongoing.

I am not sure where the figure of €200 million comes from. Neither the Tánaiste nor I are familiar with such a limit, but we believe the Deputy might be referring to the rescue and restructure element of it, which is only one element of the package in place to support business. That element was increased by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, from €20 million to €200 million in the last while. That is a particular instrument where money can be provided to a business to rescue it if necessary and to fund restructuring so that it can change the way it does its business to ensure its survival. That is a particular instrument for particular types of businesses and mainly involves exporters not involved in the agrifood sector.

There are different supports in place for the agrifood sector, including farmers, fishermen and primary producers for the wider industry. Those supports are provided by the Common Agricultural Policy and the CMO regulation. We will require sums very far north of €200 million to support incomes and save jobs in the agrifood sector. I said at the weekend that if we end up in a no-deal Brexit scenario, no amount of Government intervention or State support will make it all okay. I meant that. It will still be bad. However, we can mitigate the damage substantially by protecting incomes and protecting jobs in the first phase, and in the second phase by providing funding to restructure industry to produce new products, provide new services and to orientate to new markets where it is viable to do so.

We know the damage the economic fire of Brexit will cause. I am asking the Taoiseach to outline specifically the fire protections he will put in place to mitigate that damage.

The Taoiseach has said that €200 million for sanctioned state aid is not the ceiling of it. Precisely how much to date has been approved by the EU for state aid in the event of a hard Brexit?

When I asked the Taoiseach what the Government had put in place, he spoke about endless supports, from loans to seminars. Loans are no good to some companies that cannot pay back loans in the short term. They are vital to some. Seminars will not sustain jobs. They are helpful in advising people, but in the event that the hard Brexit that has been forecast and mapped by the ESRI comes to pass, people will need to know what concrete financial supports are there to sustain them through the crisis until they figure out how to continue. Will the Taoiseach quantify the sums the Government will deploy?

In addition to the loans, the information, the seminars and the training, grants have also been issued by Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland-----

How much?

I do not have that exact figure in front of me, but it has been a whole package of things. This has been done already. We may never see a no-deal Brexit and yet we have done all these things just in case it happens.

In terms of the fire protections, as the Deputy described them, he will be aware of the €200 million rescue and restructure fund for business. I have explained how that would work. There would be other instruments for farmers and the agrifood sector, and other instruments for the fishing sector should our fishermen lose access to the UK waters in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

There is a Brexit stakeholders forum tomorrow. We will be able to share more information with leaders, stakeholders and parties. We do not have an exact final figure because that is still being worked on with the Commission. As the Deputy knows, when it comes to agriculture a certain amount will come from the Commission, which we can then match either one-to-one or by multiples. We are still in discussion on the extent by which we are allowed to top it up.

As I do not want to create the wrong impression, it is very important to bear in mind that it is not as if the Government has hundreds of millions or billions of euro sitting in a bank account somewhere to use. This will be borrowed money if we have to do it. We will move from surplus into deficit, but if that is what we have to do to protect jobs, incomes and livelihoods, and to save businesses, farms and the agrifood sector, we will do it. In the event of a deal being agreed, I would not like to create the impression that this money is available for something else. It is not. It would be borrowed money.

The reason we set up a rainy day fund and the reason we ran a budget surplus this year, against the advice of some people who said we should borrow more and spend more, was so we would be in a position to borrow if we have to, and we can.