There will be no immediate change to the free flow of people, goods and services between Britain and Ireland as a result of Brexit, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said on Monday morning.
He also said the vote in the UK would not have any effect on the Government’s fiscal space for the 2017 budget.
Addressing the national economic dialogue in Dublin Castle, he said he was “saddened and disappointed” at the result of the Brexit referendum in the UK.
Mr Kenny’s comments come as Minister for Finance Michael Noonan insisted there was no sense of panic in Ireland over the British exit.
The Dáil will hold an eight-hour debate on the implications of Brexit starting at noon.
Mr Noonan’s Cabinet colleague and Minister for Education Richard Bruton said Ireland will be in a pivotal position in the UK’s Brexit negotiations with the EU.
On Sunday Minister for Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said the result now meant the future unification of Ireland would be in the best interests of its citizens, but holding a referendum while the British government was negotiating its exit from the EU would only cause division.
Northern Ireland’s deputy leader Martin McGuinness called on Friday for Border poll. But his demands were rebuffed by First Minister Arlene Foster as well as by Mr Kenny.
“I share the view that at some stage in the future that the unification would be in the best interests of the people but only when there is a majority consent of the people in Northern Ireland,” Mr Flanagan said.
“We now have a situation following the referendum, where the UK is leaving the European Union. Any further referendums in Northern Ireland would cause a greater level of division than we have now and is therefore in my view particularly unhelpful.”
Britain’s Northern Ireland minister Theresa Villiers, who campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union in Thursday’s referendum, said the conditions for a Border vote had not been met.
More to follow.
