I want to stay on the issue of Brexit and focus exclusively on jobs. For most people reading the estimate published by the Government yesterday, the most stark and shocking figure in it was that between 50,000 and 55,000 jobs would be lost in the event that there was a hard Brexit. It would be catastrophic for us. One of the key lessons we learned from the economic collapse was that it is much easier to preserve jobs than to try to replace them. The Taoiseach will remember the phrase Mario Draghi used which gave those of us in government at the time great heart, namely, that he would do whatever it took to preserve the euro currency. My question is about the preservation of jobs. Will the Government do whatever it takes to preserve jobs in the event that there is a hard Brexit? Specifically, what level of funds has been identified for schemes to support businesses and workers through whatever difficulties will arise in the coming months and years? Has the Government had preliminary talks with the trade union movement on altering work practices to preserve jobs, as happened in Germany during the crisis? Now that the prospect of a hard Brexit is looming as a reality, what level of resources, in cash terms, will the Government deploy to ensure the 55,000 jobs will not be lost?

I will deal with that matter as the figures to which Deputy Howlin refers were published in the summer economic statement and referred to again by the Tánaiste yesterday. It is worthwhile making it clear that the same document highlights that we will still have over 2.1 million people at work in the economy. Of course, as the Deputy said correctly, the loss of any job presents a great difficulty and problem for the person who loses it and his or her family. Even though there are still high levels of employment within the economy, the Deputy is right that we have to mobilise all of our resources to keep people in work and ensure that, if citizens lose work, the loss will be temporary. In budget 2020 we will outline the resources that will be available to achieve this. There will be a combination of options. We will use the surplus we are aiming to generate next year and, if it is not sufficient, I have already indicated that we would be willing to run a temporary deficit to respond to the very issue the Deputy has identified.