Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Excellent. Specifically, I want to know how many there will be on 1 January. One of the few things certain in public sector jobs is that, on the day a person starts, they know the day they will finish. There is nothing more certain than a retirement day. Can we get a picture of what retirements will look like for 2024? That is not to name any individual; it is a function of their age, not their name or grade. I am anxious to get a picture of what that will look like. The clerk will circulate it to the committee.

Target 17.10 refers to the promotion of a "universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system under the WTO including through the concluding of negotiations [under the] Doha Development Agenda". I ask specifically about the impact of the US Inflation Reduction Act. What does it mean for the future of EU state aid rules? Protectionist elements in the form of local content requirements have been labelled a "frontal attack on the WTO" and its international trade order. How does this fit into target 17.10, which alludes to the promotion of "a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory... multilateral trading system"? What should be our response and that of the EU more broadly? I am not saying I would use those words but it has been described as a full-frontal attack. People in the States may have a different view of it.