Mr. Mark Redmond:

I have a few observations. First, it is important to state that Ireland does not have a preferential right to US foreign direct investment. In fact, while the two way relationship is as strong as ever, the competition is as intense as ever. The extent to which Ireland continues to be successful in attracting new projects here and in expanding existing ones is a testimony to the success of the workforce and the talent in the US companies here and the leaders of those companies in Ireland who compete extremely strongly with other territories around the world to bring that investment. We have no preferential advantage in doing that.

I fully concur with Deputy O'Reilly's point about the critical role played by the agri sector during the five tough years of 2008 to 2012. He will forgive me for also stating that US foreign direct investment in those five difficult years for our country exceeded that of the previous 60. The US kept faith with Ireland through our tough times, because our fundamentals were sound and because of the longevity of the trading relationship.

Finally, there are differing studies about the benefits to Ireland and the European Union from negotiating a successful EU-US trade deal. While mindful of the cliché that past performance is no indicator of future performance, Ireland is a great test case. We can see how opening up to trade with our greatest trading partner, the United States of America, has transformed the lives and opportunities of our people. I will conclude with that.