By Padraic Halpin
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Britain could avoid prospective disruption to trade across the EU by revoking or extending its notice to quit the bloc, as Dublin on Tuesday began enacting its contingency plan for a 'no-deal' Brexit.
The cabinet debated a detailed paper on preparations for various scenarios including Britain crashing out of the bloc with no negotiated transition. Varadkar told parliament Ireland had to take steps now for that eventuality.
They included accelerating the recruitment of 1,000 customs officials and veterinary inspectors, adding infrastructure to ports and airports and preparing enabling laws.
"Everybody wants to avoid a 'no-deal' scenario, and the United Kingdom has the power to withdraw the threat of 'no deal' from us, from their own people and from the European Union," he said.
"They can do it by revoking Article 50 or, if that is a step too far, they can do it by seeking an extension to Article 50 so the power is there in the United Kingdom to remove the threat of 'no deal'."
Dublin had already begun the process of hiring 200 customs officials to prepare for the changes to trade with Britain, even in the case of an orderly exit.
Varadkar advised Irish firms to implement their 'no deal' plans now, and said Dublin was discussing with the European Commission in Brussels what state aid might be available to Irish firms if Britain leaves the EU in March without a deal.
ECONOMIC THREAT
Ireland, with its fast-growing economy, is the EU member with the most to lose from Britain's departure. The central bank has said that, even if the British parliament were to pass the deal that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with Brussels, Irish GDP would be 1.7 percent smaller than if Britain remained in the EU's single market and customs union.
The UK accounted for 12 percent of all Irish goods exports in 2017, although the proportion was much higher for high-employment sectors such as food and drink, while 24 percent of all goods imports come from Britain.
Ireland has said it will make no contingency plans along its land border with the British province of Northern Ireland, the future of which is a central obstacle to May winning parliamentary support for her Brexit deal.
After she postponed a vote on the deal on Monday, hoping to secure concessions on that issue from Brussels, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he did not believe the wording of the withdrawal agreement would change "at all".
Coveney noted that May had strongly defended the "backstop", the insurance policy to prevent any return to border posts and border checks, and said EU leaders might be able to provide an additional declaration that the mechanism is just a temporary, fall back option.
He said the backstop was not to be feared, but a consequence of the responsibilities of the two governments, signatories of a deal that has kept peace between Northern Ireland's Irish nationalist and pro-British Protestant communities for two decades.