Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Whose standards? That is the point that I want to have debated. We did not touch on the issue of job displacement. All of the studies suggest that there will be job displacement. Again one of the studies raised the cost of unemployment and that the costs arising from job displacement have not been considered.

The impact of an agreement on least developed countries, LDCs, was downplayed in many of the studies. One of them refers to a possible reduction in real GDP of up to 3% in these countries. While we heard that this figure was not conclusive, it is a substantial decline, especially in light of the European Union's commitment to reduce poverty in LDCs.

We also heard some frightening figures on internal trade in the European Union. One of the studies indicated the reduction in intra-EU trade would be modest at 3%, while another predicted a much more substantial decline of 30%. Clearly, there is a significant divergence in opinion on this issue.

I heard reports that the Irish Farmers Association would not have a problem if a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement were reached. Given the importance of the agrifood sector, I would have expected farmers to have major concerns about a possible agreement. That does not appear to be the case, however.

We have not heard a great deal about genetically modified foods and opinions in the European Union and United States on the potential impact of a TTIP agreement in terms of GM foods have diverged. Do the witnesses agree that further study is required on the potential impact of a TTIP agreement on agriculture, GM foods and least developed countries?