Dr. Pat Ivory:

I thank Senator Byrne. It is nice to see him again. Data adequacy is an area we are putting a lot of attention on. We have had a number of engagements with the Data Protection Commissioner and with the European Union on the importance of establishing a data adequacy agreement and getting it in place as quickly as possible. We had a meeting this week with the EU's Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom and it confirmed that it is in the process of completing the review for that data adequacy decision. It is a significant positive that the UK, because of its membership of the EU up to the end of last year, has a data protection regime in line with that of other EU member states. We feel that data flows are critical, not only for the technology sector but for all parts of Irish business. Irish business and international business in Ireland could not operate without the ability of data to flow across borders. That is something we are committed to.

On the Senator's questions regarding ports and further port infrastructure development, one thing that has been welcomed by business is the range of routes now available for transport directly to the Continent. Rosslare has been instrumental in introducing some of those new routes, including the Rosslare-Dunkirk route. Other roll-on roll-off services have also been developed by Rosslare Europort. These are important additions. While the land bridge will continue to be important for a lot of business, we have also seen increased demand for new alternative routes and that has been very apparent from the early weeks of the implementation of the agreement.

On the plans for the marketing of Ireland, IBEC has been developing an international and global outreach in recent years. We do a lot of joint work with partners in the United States. We make sure that is part of our plans every year and it will be this year as well. We have also worked closely with other European business federations to build strategic partnerships as the UK leaves the European Union. We are now the only English-speaking member of the EU so that has to be a selling point. We also have a business model of substance which is in line with the guidelines of the OECD. It attracts foreign direct investment and we intend that model to continue to develop and attract such investment. That is good for Irish business, Irish workers and the Irish consumer. That is a big part of our strategy going forward.

On skills and identifiable shortages, it is apparent in the area of trade and customs that the skills available are limited. There will be a need for more people to be involved in this area, particularly as the year progresses. On the import side, we are already facing those challenges. We will face them in greater degree on the export side from 1 April and then again from July, when the UK introduces its own administrative customs controls, which have been paused for the time being. They will introduce new controls as the year goes on and those kinds of skills will be needed. In that regard, the support the Government has offered, that is, the €9,000 grant or €4,500 if it is on a part-time basis, is something we have encouraged our members to look at to support the building of customs capabilities within customs agents and trading companies.

On the importance of other trade agreements, we are committed to that objective. The Senator mentioned CETA, which is an important agreement and has been provisionally applied.

It is still to be ratified in Ireland and it has been ratified, I think, by 13 other countries. We are very much in favour of its ratification and believe it offers fantastic opportunities for Irish and Canadian business. We have been working in partnership with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to highlight the importance of the agreement. Mr. Danny McCoy had an opinion piece recently with the Canadian chamber to highlight what CETA has to offer for businesses both in Ireland and in Canada.