Kenny says clear plan in place if Britain votes to exit EU

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted the Government will have a “clear plan” in place if the UK votes to leave the European Union.

In the Dáil Mr Kenny said the key priority for the Government should Britain opt out would be “to protect and promote Ireland’s interests to the greatest extent possible”.

And he insisted there was a “full-scale contingency programme in place which I hope we do not have to use”.

Fianna Fáil jobs spokesman Niall Collins asked if there was a "Plan B", and pointed to ESRI reports that a Brexit vote could result in an immediate cut of up to 20 per cent in trade.

Later his party leader Micheál Martin said there had been some academic papers published but there seemed to be a “lot of prayer and hope that it goes the right way as opposed to any considered contingency planning”.

Mr Martin warned that whatever the result “cool heads should prevail” to make sure “hotheads” did not prevail which would set everyone back.

The “cool heads” would need to lead a considered debate on the EU.

He said “Europe is still involved too much at the lower level of minutiae and detail on the ground which should be left to national parliaments and governments”.

Trade barriers

Sinn Féin leader

Gerry Adams

said they wanted a more democratic and social EU. Yet “to have one part of this island inside the EU and the other outside will not be good for the island. It is not in Ireland’s interest to have Border posts or trade barriers.”

He also warned that Britain would find it much easier if it was not part of the EU to “do away with the human rights element of the Good Friday Agreement” and easier not to implement equality protocols.

Insisting the Government had detailed plans to respond to a vote to exit, Mr Kenny said: “We have a whole-of-government contingency framework which maps the key issues that would be most important to Ireland.” He said a result was expected between 3am and 4am on Friday, and there would be an early morning Cabinet meeting if necessary.

EU discussion

EU leaders will meet in Brussels next week to discuss the outcome whether the decision is to leave or remain. Mr Kenny said if the UK exited the EU all member states had to use the opportunity to reform the union.

He said there would be two years of talks on the terms of Britain’s exit should voters opt to leave, but he was hopeful that the mood in Britain had changed in the past few days and that voters might decide to remain.

“In the event of that becoming a reality, this would be the framework within which each Minister, department and agency would manage the policy, operational and programmatic implications that could arise from a UK vote to leave the EU.”

He said many commentators had suggested a period of volatility in the markets and that sterling would suffer strong losses against the euro.

He warned that “if a sustained decrease in the value of sterling did transpire, clearly this would have serious implications for our exports”.