Gov urged to boost emergency no-deal Brexit funding by €1bn

The Government is being called upon to boost emergency funding to €1bn for businesses and projects as a no-deal Brexit looms.

The call comes amid plans by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to scupper any attempted parliamentary block on his attempt to drive through a no-deal.

The British-Irish Chamber of Commerce launched its pre-budget submission today

It says the Irish Government should look to “reduce Ireland’s reliance on volatile corporate tax receipts for the coming years by increasing the Budget surplus or by increasing the allocation to the rainy-day fund”.

Furthermore, Ireland should continue to seek temporary exemptions from EU State Aid rules to enable the provision of assistance to businesses severely impacted by Brexit, the chamber suggests.

In addition, to reassure Irish businesses and to offer immediate confidence to the Irish economy, the chamber is calling for the Government to establish a €1bn “Brexit response fund.”

The call comes as it emerges that Mr Johnson has announced plans for a Queen's speech for mid-October, a move which will see the

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The measure will deny parliament members time to speak and debate Brexit, especially amid Opposition plans to try and push for a vote of no confidence in the Johnson administration or to pass laws to stop a no-deal before the October 31 deadline.

Tory backbencher Dominic Grieve called the move "an outrageous act".

House of Commons speaker John Bercow responded to the decision, saying it was a “constitutional outrage”.

“However it is dressed up, it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop Parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty in shaping a course for the country," he warned.

Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty TD today called for the establishment of a €2bn 'Brexit stabilisation fund' to protect jobs and exporters exposed to the damage of a no-deal Brexit. This would replace the so-called rainy day fund, he said.