Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I am sorry for being late as I missed two introductions.

I have a question for Enterprise Ireland. Mr. Sherry said in his statement that there has been a trend whereby exports to the UK, as a proportion of total client exports, have declined from 45% in 2005 to 37% in 2015. I want the delegations to tell me whether we are witnessing a Brexit panic. A vote on Brexit took place but after Theresa May's speech the currency speculators created uncertainty. Mr. Sherry, in his statement, said there was a short-term volatility in the market.

The valuation of sterling can go up and down depending on the outcomes of discussions, talks and agreements that may happen when we sit down to work out the detail of Brexit, but a decline was taking place anyway in trade between Britain and Ireland.

I also notice in Enterprise Ireland's statement that reference is made to reorienting towards North America, Canada, Asia and the Middle East. I ask the representatives of Enterprise Ireland to comment on what they think the impact of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, with Canada, the first stages of which are to be signed next week with the European Commission, will be on all its ambitions. What do they think the impact of the agreement will be and how might it offset any kind of negative impact of Brexit in the Republic of Ireland?

Regarding InterTrade Ireland's presentation, it is interesting to see that one third of all external sales by small companies from the North come south and over 62% of Northern Ireland's total sales to the EU are to Ireland. Therefore, the market in the Republic of Ireland is clearly very important to the economy in Northern Ireland. However, given all the sensitivities and in the absence of discussions happening, does InterTrade Ireland see a way around doing specific trade deals within the island, should a hard Brexit go ahead?

I direct my last question to IDA Ireland. I am delighted to see its figures state a fact that we have been saying for ages, that is, it is not just our tax system that attracts foreign direct investment into this country, but also the fact that we have talent and infrastructure, we are English-speaking, we are a member of the European Union, we are a member of the eurozone and we represent a passport into the European market in general because of our location. Every time it is said we should try to collect the effective corporation tax of 12.5%, there is another panic, that is, that the companies would all up sticks and leave, whereas in fact the witnesses have all outlined that there are many other factors that make this economy particularly attractive for investment. However, I am concerned about the IDA and the type of investment it brings in. We had a discussion at a previous committee about the quality of jobs. This point is probably separate from but related to Brexit. I want to know from the IDA, while its representatives are here, whether it does any checking of the quality and types of jobs it funds and attempts to attract in. Specifically, in the financial sector, we will see many sorts of dodgy companies in the future - I will not mention them here because I probably would be given out to - through which the quality of jobs will drive down working pay and conditions for many people. The nature of these global corporations is that they provide an app and somebody goes out as a self-employed technician and delivers a service at a very cheap rate for the corporation. Is the IDA concerned about funding such companies? They may tick the boxes and show that we are getting jobs, but should we not also be concerned about the quality and standard of jobs and pay that public money pays for?