An adjustment fund and a retraining programme for workers likely to be affected by Brexit are needed to minimise the potential damage of a no-deal Brexit, according to a new report by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

Preparing for Brexit: ICTU proposals to support jobs and workers also recommend establishing a short-time work scheme to preserve jobs, and a Brexit adjustment assistance fund to upskill and retrain at-risk workers. It also says the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund must be able to support workers made redundant on foot of Brexit.

Meanwhile, British unions that represent healthcare workers have warned of disruption to supplies of medicine, particularly drugs for cancer diagnosis and therapies that can’t be stockpiled.

The unions say Brexit poses threats to workers and patients in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), and that a no-deal exit would likely effect funding for under-pressure services. They also fear that EU nationals working in the NHS could be left in limbo.

In a separate development, staff and representatives of both Fórsa and Siptu took part in a demonstration outside the British embassy in Dublin last week. Organised by Britons living in Ireland, the protest was against the proroguing of the Westminster parliament and the implications of a no-deal Brexit for Britain and Ireland.

You can find more on ICTU’s Brexit report HERE, and more on the TUC health unions’ statement HERE.