Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of this committee but I am honoured to attend this meeting. Mr. McKeever is the chief executive of my nominating body for the Seanad. I congratulate the Irish Exporters Association on the superb job it does on behalf of small, medium and multinational companies. Its membership comprises an extraordinary group of companies.

It was a pleasure to hear Dr. Raza's fresh perspective on this potential treaty. I agree with Deputy Crowe that the newspapers and political talk in Ireland generally deal with crises or scandals and rarely deal with the reality of economic proposals. They are ignored. They might be announced when a report is launched but there is no public discussion. I speak from personal experience because in the last recession I co-founded Lir Chocolates along with another lady. We did not have a pen or a pencil but we worked 24-7 for 16 years, including Christmas Day and New Year's Day. I have been a full-time politician since 2002 but I am also a board member of Lir Chocolates, which is now owned by a renowned German company. From my experience on the ground, I found Dr. Raza's comments very realistic in terms of things that appear to be attractive to a company considering trade with another company. In our early years we won an award in Japan for the quality of our products and we subsequently received an opportunity to export to that country. It sounded brilliant but there were too many regulatory barriers and layers of bureaucracy because Japan did not want imports.

There is no future for SMEs to expand in Ireland because our market is too small. Most of Lir Chocolate's sales come from exports to Europe and further afield. The key to success for SMEs is to be innovative because they will not be wanted unless they bring something unique to the market. It took me seven years to persuade Baileys to allow us to produce a box of Baileys chocolates because it did not allow its name to be used on anything other than the drink. Every time I came close to doing a deal, the chief executive went off somewhere else and I had to start from scratch. I refer to small and medium start-up companies rather than multinationals or big Irish companies. We have extraordinarily successful and world class agrifood companies. Innovation is key. We were able to grow our business internationally because we made boxes of Baileys chocolates, which were unique. It requires incredible perseverance and creativity to come up with a product that will find a niche.

It was very refreshing to read Mr. Raza's report and to listen to his comments. It sounds like a good idea to bureaucrats in Brussels and the United States, who are not involved in trade. Bureaucrats have always thought it would be a great idea for Europe to draw up a trading agreement with the United States. However, the bureaucrats in Brussels do not have any understanding of the skills required to export. I agree that people will lose out. Over the last 48 hours, a US Democratic Party Senator from New York, Senator Schumer, intervened with Bausch and Lomb, which is seeking to save €20 million in costs and to let 200 people go.

Senator Schumer invited Bausch & Lomb back to Rochester, New York, and we are talking about friendly relations between the US and Ireland. This is a cold-blooded look at the reality of doing trade and I compliment the committee on discussing it. I will raise the reality of it in the Seanad next week. I found the presentation realistic from my experience. We decided not to deal with Japan because it was too expensive. I could talk for a week about where one does and does not do business because of the costs.