Kenny rejects claim Government has no Brexit plan

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has rejected a Sinn Féin claim the Government has no plan to deal with the fallout from the UK EU referendum.

He told the party’s deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald, in the Dáil on Tuesday, she was wrong in claiming that the Government’s response was a one-day conference of interested groups next month.

“It is the first in a series of meetings that will deal with all of the issues,’’ he added.

He said the Government’s plan was very well advanced and he would brief the Opposition party leaders later today to give them the chronology of all that was done in advance of the referendum and since.

“There is a lot more work going on here than you realise,’’ he added.

Ms McDonald said if the British prime minister, Theresa May, had assured the Taoiseach about there being "no hard Brexit and no hard Border", she had clearly changed her mind.

“What we do not want is a talking shop,’’ she added. “”We need a dialogue that informs and produces a plan.’’

Mr Kenny said Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire had repeated at the Tory party conference on Tuesday there would be no return to a hard Border.

“He is speaking on behalf of the prime minister and the British government, reiterating what she has said herself,’’ he added.