Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has said that a no-deal Brexit would adversely affect Ireland's employment rate by around 2% over time.
Mr Donohoe told the media at the publication of his department's mid-year expenditure review that this equates to between 30,000 and 40,000 jobs.
Mr Donohoe also said that there will have to be a supplementary estimate to deal with overspending in the health service over the first half of year.
He stated that the objective was to maintain services while addressing the budget overruns in the health service.
"I'm confident that we will be able to deal with the trend that has developed in the HSE via a supplementary estimate that will allow us meet the service commitments that we have," he said.
On the housing crisis, Mr Donohoe said he supports the approach taken to tackle the problem by Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy.
During the first quarter of the year, the minister said there was a major increase in planning applications for homes.
"We are beginning now to see a significant change in the number of new build completions particularly in areas of high density development," he said.
