Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials and apologise for missing the beginning of the presentation while at another committee meeting. I have a couple of issues, the first of which is to ask why now, whether this the right time or has this initiative been in train for a number of years? Other speakers have touched on the issue of food, which is of huge importance to Ireland. I have raised the issue of standards at either this committee or the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation - I am unsure which - and a reassurance was given that there would be no lessening of standards in any discussions on GM food, hormone-treated beef and bovine somatotropin-injected cows producing milk in the United States. While I am sure this is the case, the Minister might comment on this subject.

As Deputy Eric Byrne has noted, this appears on paper to have huge potential. The European Commission's economic analysis suggests that the benefits for the European Union and the US would not be at the expense of the rest of the world but estimates the increase in GDP in the rest of the world would be almost €100 billion. How is it envisaged that this will happen? If the European Union is exporting more to the United States, presumably other countries would be exporting less to it. Similarly, if the United States is exporting more to the European Union, there therefore would be less room for other countries to export here. From where does this €100 billion come?