The government's published the general scheme of the bill containing all the emergency measures that will be needed if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.

The package includes 17 measures that will impact on a range of government departments.

It provides an illustration of the scale of change that could come about if the UK crashes out of Europe without a deal.

It contains measures to allow buses and trains to still travel between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

There are amendments to make sure Irish students studying in the UK can still access their SUSI grants - and the continuation of certain social welfare payments for Irish citizens in Britain.

There are also updates to criminal law to make sure people can still be extradited and that the Gardaí and the PSNI can share documents electronically – as well as measures for the exchange of immigration data.

The bill deals with healthcare arrangements, the single electricity market, taxation and insurance issues.

There are 17 parts to the bill which the government has said are all aimed at protecting Irish citizens.

Government officials have noted that they don’t want to have to pass this legislation - with Ministers still holding out hope that a deal can be reached before the March deadline.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar attends a session of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 24-01-2019. Image: Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP

Alignment

Speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos today, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar warned that, in a no deal scenario, the UK will have to accept full regulatory and customs alignment with the EU in Northern Ireland if it is to honour its agreements during the Brexit talks and obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.

He said that Ireland, the UK and the EU will have to come together to honour the promise that there will be no return to a hard border.

He told reporters that Ireland was open to negotiation on the backstop “If the UK decides to change its red lines.”

“We have always said that if the UK were to reconsider its position on the Customs Union; reconsider its position on the Single Market; that Europe would respond in kind,” he said.

“But in the absence of that, the backstop gives us a legally operable, workable guarantee that there will never be a hard border again.”

Preparations

Meanwhile, Revenue has said it is on track to have 400 additional staff in place to deal with a hard Brexit.

The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners Niall Cody said the body will be ready for all scenarios – but confirmed that there will be no customs posts along the border if there is no deal.

He also denied speculation that restoration work was being carried out on old ones in Donegal.