Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

One might be forgiven for thinking the delegates are like the fairy godmother or godfather and, with a magic wand, all of our problems will be solved through the TTIP and trade agreements, with austerity becoming a distant memory. There are concerns in civil society and among NGOs about the lack of serious and meaningful debate. I take it that the delegates welcome the debate and that there has been a start made in Europe. There needs to be a start made in Ireland and I hope the committee will encourage hearing the other side of the argument. I hope we will propose that a debate be held in the Dáil on these important issues.

The delegates referred to harmonisation and regulatory standards. Other trade agreements have seen a race to the bottom when it comes to the environment, labour and consumer standards. That has happened in the past. How can we ensure this agreement will be different? With regard to employment creation, the Single Market and the common currency have led to job losses. As we now have a figure of 26 million people unemployed in Europe, what we have seen to date has not created the employment the delegates seem convinced we will see. I accept that they are saying they hope it will lead to improved standards, but other agreements have not done so. I accept the facts presented about multinational companies in Ireland, but we have had multinational companies that availed of the tax breaks and tax concessions and left, leading to the loss of employment. We see others that are planning do this or downsize. There must be greater job security There are fears that we are seeing what are termed yellow pack workers. The incident at Bausch & Lomb in Waterford shows that workers are being told they can take it or the employers will leave. We see aggressive lobbying for them to move to New York. We are up against the idea that firms can come and go. We must be careful about this.

In respect of the United States and Europe, Ireland is the gateway and benefiting. How will it continue to benefit after the TTIP is agreed to?

My other question concerns the tax implications. We do not want Ireland to be a tax haven, yet we see aggressive tax avoidance measures by multinationals. How can we ensure a free trade agreement will not make profit shifting easier?