Mr. Paul Sweetman:

At the basic level, any barrier to trade is damaging for business and can possibly impact Ireland's competitiveness for FDI. Regarding reputation, the committee is well aware of the debates that are happening within the US over what is happening in the Middle East. Therefore, any moves that Ireland is making, particularly on the occupied territories Bill, is the source of that reputational damage. The discussion is polarised and therefore any stance that is taken on one particular area or another falls into that space. The reputational is growing from that polarisation of views.