As part of its emergency no deal preparations, Dublin will publish a series of contingency measures including plans to introduce new inspection posts to check livestock today. The new checks, designed to protect the European Union’s single market, will be positioned on or close to the Northern Irish border if Britain leaves the bloc without an agreement. This is the first time Leo Varadkar’s government have publicly conceded that its officials will have to set up checks at or around the border if there is a no-deal Brexit.

Tory leadership contenders Jeremy Hunt and Boris Johnson have both vowed to take Britain out of the EU without an agreement unless they secure significant changes to the controversial Northern Irish backstop, designed to prevent a hard border after Brexit.

An internal memo circulated around Irish cabinet ministers said such a scenario would have “dire consequences for Northern Ireland and the all-Ireland economy”.

The Irish prime minister has previously maintained he would do his utmost to protect the EU’s single market if Britain leaves without a deal – a subtle hint at the need to implement border checks.

Dublin has warned previously that Northern Ireland could become a “backdoor” to the EU’s market.

His deputy, Simon Coveney has warned ministers that Ireland “will essentially get taken out of the single market by default” if Dublin refuses to impose the necessary checks.

Mr Coveney said: “There has been an enormous amount of work put in place to prepare us for all Brexit scenarios, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be okay.

“A no-deal Brexit will be very challenging. It will put huge strain on certain sectors of the economy. It will perhaps be most damaging for Northern Ireland.

“We want to work to ensure a no-deal doesn’t happen, but we have to prepare for that scenario, and we have to face up to the ugly truths of what it means, in terms of the imposition of tariffs on this island, and the imposition of non-tariff trade barrier on this island also.

“It will be a fundamental disruption to how the all-island economy functions today in such a seamless way.

“It will put strain and stress on not only that trade but the political systems that back it up too. That is the risk of no-deal that people need to understand in very blunt terms, because it is the truth and we shouldn’t sugar-coat it.

“Trying to deal with this real complexity with on the one had protecting Ireland’s place in the EU single market and customs union – and of course protecting the single market and customs union – and at the same time in a no-deal scenario ensuring we don’t create security risk in the context of the north-south relationships on this island.”

The British Government has previously said that it will not impose border checks on goods from the Republic of Ireland in the event of no deal.

But officials have conceded that such a move would not be sustainable in the long term.

The European Commission has declared that delivering a solution to the Irish border is a “precondition” for Britain to start future trade talks in the event of a no deal.

The Brussels-based executive arm has pressure Dublin to reveal its plans for the border, but none have yet to be published.

Eurocrats will not publish any new plans, deeming their current measures adequate in the build up to October 31, Britain’s next scheduled departure date.

A Commission spokeswoman said: “We have been working this since November 2017… We are prepared at this stage we do not see any need for any further no deal contingency measures.”

Mr Coveney is expected to deliver three no deal preparation notices, covering up to 20 separate issues including exports to the UK, aviation, haulage and protecting medical supplies.

The deputy prime minister will ask the Irish cabinet to approve plans for the border posts at ports and airports.

One of the emergency Brexit notices will be a “wake-up call” to businesses, after Mr Coveney claimed not enough firms in Ireland have taken the threat of no deal serious.

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