Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, to our committee this morning. As somebody who in his previous role worked with the previous Tánaiste in developing our own trade strategy, this dovetails into that because it is about utilising our position within the EU to build relationships on a broader, global scale. As someone who visited Mexico with Enterprise Ireland I had an opportunity to see at first hand the huge opportunities that are there. The Minister of State will know as he hails from the same constituency, that the Mergon factory in north Westmeath has a new plant in Mexico. That is contributing to the success of industry here in Ireland and to the success of the Irish economy. It is important and I want to add my voice in support of this agreement today.

Going back, we have strong historical links with Latin America, in particular with Argentina. My wife’s great-granduncle was the first Irish ambassador to Argentina, Laurence Ginnell.

This year we celebrated the 100 year anniversary of his death. Of course he was an MP previously as well. It is really important and every time the Argentinian ambassador comes to Ireland they try to build and develop those strong links. This gives us an opportunity. We have a unique inroad in those countries and it all about how we best exploit that. We are a small open economy which depends on its ability to trade internationally. Without that ability we would not have the economy we have today and we would not have the resources to invest in critical services. I fully support this.