Yesterday afternoon Deputy Nash and I attended a briefing on tariffs and trade with senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs. It was also attended by other Opposition Deputies. I thank the Minister and Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, for setting up that briefing at my request. I had asked him last week that it would be set up. We are all very conscious that we are facing a particular crunch point next week with the prospect of US tariffs. There is deep concern around the country about the impact they are likely to have on jobs, the economy and the prospects for achieving the necessary change in terms of housing construction and investment in public services. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, spoke about this on the radio quite candidly recently. What contingency planning is the Taoiseach doing at Government level? Can he brief the House on this, particularly next week once we see this deadline in place? Have he and the Tánaiste plans to engage further with Commissioner Šefčovič or indeed with the US officials on this?

Yes, it is a very serious issue. It will be profound if it is not satisfactorily resolved by dialogue. A trade war would have a very serious impact on GDP and GNI, in other words, the income of the nation. It could potentially have a serious impact on employment. It is the most serious challenge facing this Government. We had a number of meetings on Monday in respect of it, the Tánaiste and I with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for public expenditure, in terms of the various scenarios that could unfold. I have engaged with a number of companies, as have the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance, and with our State agencies. We are working through this. It is very serious and will dwarf anything we have been discussing here in the past 48 hours. Given the profound nature of what could happen, it really is a huge reflection on the Dáil that we are having major rows about eight minutes and so on.

At your behest.

It is a reflection on you, Taoiseach.

Deputy Bacik got the briefing yesterday. It is ongoing. The contacts with Commissioner Šefčovič, the President of the Commission and the US Administration are ongoing.