Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister would have heard my reservations and opposition with regard to this scheme in the past. My reservations are around a number of proposals that the Minister has introduced. At the beginning it was a limited scheme that was targeted at the BRIC countries, and the argument was put forward that these were emerging markets and that we needed to encourage exports into these emerging markets. Then there were amendments and the decision to review the scheme. The countries included were Egypt, Algeria, Tanzania Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo. Now we see another expansion of the scheme, and as Deputy Murphy has pointed out, the change to the restriction on the number of qualifying days. It would be unwise to consider the effect of Brexit when we discuss this scheme given that export goods from Ireland to the UK was 17.9% according to figures in the review that was done at the time. Obviously there are a lot of people who do not know what is coming down the line in terms of tariffs and so on and will have to look at other export markets and try to diversify.

I have some questions with regard to this section. The justification for the extension of the scheme is interesting, and Deputy Murphy has asked the Minister how this has come about. The review that was carried out actually calls for the scheme to be extended to all countries highlighted in the Government's integrated plan for trade, tourism and investment, which are all non-EU countries. Perhaps the Minister will indicate why he deems certain countries to be included. I am not arguing that the review's suggestion is what should happen; I am interested in the rationale behind that decision. The review suggested that expansion of the scheme would include countries such as Japan - which was our tenth largest trading export country at that point in time - Australia, Singapore, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam, Thailand and Chile. Why were those countries not included in the scheme and are we likely to see those countries being included next year?

Other proposals were put forward and we have seen a relaxation of the scheme. Qualifying days are down to 30 days, there were calls for it to be reduced to 20 days, there were calls for the travel time of employees to and from these countries to be included instead of just the days they were there. I am interested in the rationale for the decision. I am not advocating this but if this scheme is about supporting exports and companies to develop in markets - that are not as developed for exporters at this point in time - then why is this scheme not available to every country outside the European Union? Very established trading partners might be excluded such as the US which is probably the only country, bar Japan, that is in the top ten category with regard to exports from Ireland.