Ms Lorraine Benson:

I understand that there will be statements in the Dáil on TTIP in December. We just heard that news today. To give an overview of where we are on TTIP, negotiations commenced in 2013 under the Irish Presidency. Ireland has a big interest in TTIP because we stand to gain hugely by virtue of the volume of trade we have with the US. This has been demonstrated in an economic impact study which we conducted and published earlier this year. The negotiations have reached the 11th round. It is difficult to know if it is at the half way mark and we have another half to go, or if the glass is half full or half empty, but the negotiations continue apace. They are heavily detailed and cover many areas and not just market access, including market access for agriculture products. They also cover, for instance, public procurement rules and regulatory standards, so there is a vast area of work yet to be done.

The council of trade Ministers will be discussing TTIP with the European Commissioner on the 27 November. Following that meeting, the TTIP statements in December will probably be a good opportunity to have that information on a political level progress report from the Minister in the Dáil.