Mr. Pat Ivory:

I am happy to meet members of the joint committee again to the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, TTIP, agreement. As the representative body for Irish business, IBEC is a strong supporter of the negotiations on an EU-US transatlantic trade and investment partnership agreement. For a number of years we have been working with our European business partners to grow business support for these negotiations.

In April a business delegation led by Business Europe's president, Ms Emma Marcegaglia, its CEO, Mr. Markus Beyrer, and me as chair of the US network of Business Europe visited Washington to emphasise the need for the European Union and the United States to show progress and concrete results in the TTIP negotiations in order to retain the support of business. The European business group emphasised its strong commitment to the conclusion of a comprehensive trade and investment agreement. The delegation met the US trade representative, Mr. Mike Froman, Members of Congress and high level government officials from the USTR, the Department of Commerce and the White House. The group also met Mr. Tom Donohue, CEO and president of the US Chamber of Commerce, and other business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the Transatlantic Business Council. The visit took place ahead of the fifth round of TTIP negotiations which took place from 19 to 23 May.

A small subgroup of the delegation, of which I was a member, met the IMF managing director, Ms Christine Lagarde, to discuss economic, trade and financial issues.

IBEC recently launched a new campaign, "An Ireland that Works", which sets out the business priorities for the next phase of recovery. It has five key policy priorities: to reduce the tax burden; better government; to invest in the future; to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship; and to extend Ireland's global reach. Central to the aim of extending Ireland's global reach is completing agreements with the United States, Asia and other trading partners to support trade and investment opportunities for Irish and EU businesses. International trade deals are building blocks of dynamic economies and we need more of them to match the ambition of our companies.

A transatlantic trade and investment partnership, TTIP, agreement has the potential to lay the foundations for a new and dynamic phase of economic renewal in both the European Union and the United States. It would constitute the most important bilateral trade initiative ever negotiated and as a trading nation with strong cultural and economic links with the United States, Ireland is particularly well placed to benefit. It remains one of the world's most open economies. Irish business is increasingly global in focus, based on innovative manufacturing and internationally traded services. Last week I was in the OECD and it was a great pleasure to see that the OECD study of restrictions on services trade across 40 countries in 18 sectors had found that Ireland was below the OECD average - meaning more open - in all 18 sectors. On internationally traded services, this market has been proved to be extremely open. Our prosperity will be determined by important economic and strategic links with global partners. Investment and trade success will be central to our economic recovery and prosperity and we must continue to foster these international linkages.

Although the United States is already one of Ireland's key export markets, a new trade deal has the potential to increase significantly the value and volume of our exports. The potential for job creation, new investment and growth is very significant. Business here would benefit from lower costs, increased opportunities for investment, a reduced regulatory burden and new public procurement opportunities. However, the TTIP negotiations will not be easy, but it is in everybody's interests to have a major trade and investment deal agreed for the long-term benefit of both economies. With a combined population of 800 million people and almost half of the world's GDP, the rewards for Irish business and consumers would be well worth the effort.

The benefits of TTIP for Irish business are wide-ranging and very substantial. TTIP will deliver products to the market cheaper and faster and enable business to be conducted more easily. It will ensure the harmonisation and promotion of high level standards and stimulate creativity and innovation. It will make public contract opportunities more accessible and encourage and protect investment. It will widen the choice of services and help to rebalance raw materials and energy markets.

The benefits of TTIP which have greater significance in an Irish context include tariffs, non-tariff barriers, standard services and investment. Many products made in Ireland and exported to the United States face costly import duties; the same applies to US firms hoping to sell here. From machinery manufacturers to the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, millions of euro and dollars are paid to customs authorities each year, costing businesses and consumers alike. This would be far better spent on much-needed investment. Irish exporters shipped €86.9 billion worth of goods to more than 200 countries in 2013. The United States increased its status as Ireland's largest goods export market, growing by almost 1.3% year on year to some €18.4 billion. Customs duties or tariffs apply to most of these products, which impacts on price. Tariffs, on average, are 4%, which is low. Eliminating these tariff barriers will generate impressive savings owing to large trade flows. The volume of trade flows is very significant and although the tariffs are low, they are still a significant cost. One of the first objectives of TTIP will be to eliminate tariffs for products either immediately or over a period of time.

TTIP will enable business to be conducted more easily. Irish exporters of goods and services sometimes face major problems with non-tariff trade barriers. These obstacles stem from divergences between EU and US regulators such as different technical regulations, specification standards, conformity assessment procedures, licensing procedures and the lack of information on regulatory systems. The vast majority of these regulations are different because they are devised independently, not because of divergent public policy choices on either side of the Atlantic. They do not mean standards are lower in the United States or the European Union, but that they are different and have been drawn up in different ways. Improving co-operation between both administrations and the regulatory authorities will help to eliminate differences and trade to move more freely and efficiently. The potential benefits of regulatory co-operation will vary from sector to sector. The harmonisation of legal provisions will be possible only when standards and licensing procedures are comparable in terms of the level of protection provided and effectiveness. However, sectors of interest to Ireland such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices and technology, financial services and food and drink are set to benefit from greater levels of regulatory co-operation and in such a way that the consumer will not suffer any lack of protection or the lowering of standards.

Small and medium-sized enterprises have much to gain as they cannot afford to navigate two regulatory systems. TTIP is the first EU trade agreement that has committed to including a chapter targeting SMEs and providing for their needs. Such a chapter could establish mechanisms to enable both sides to work together to facilitate SMEs' participation in transatlantic trade after TTIP takes effect. Provisions could also include an SME committee that could engage with the small business community and the development of web-based information and other resources to help SMEs understand the provisions of the agreement and how they can benefit from it.

TTIP will promote the harmonisation and promotion of high-level standards. Differences in approach between the European Union and the United States to standards are a significant impediment to the further integration of the world's two largest markets. They also work against the development of global value chains, which has been highlighted by the OECD, the WTO and the United Nations. Products often need to be tested twice - once against EU standards and once against the equivalent US standards - before being accepted for sale in both markets. This brings about higher costs that deter trade and investment, impacting negatively on consumers and the competitiveness of Irish and European business. Increasing co-operation on standards would lower costs and open markets for business. It would also allow the European Union and the United States to promote high standards in the transatlantic market and beyond.

TTIP will widen the choice of services being offered. Ireland is a strong performer in services exports, which grew by 11% to a value of €90.3 billion in 2012. Services now account for over 50% of the total value of Irish exports. This reflects the growth in ICT and e-business sectors, as well as the services operations of many manufacturing firms, financial services, leasing - in the aviation sector, for example - and international education service companies.

To maintain this trend our services markets must be further integrated, and TTIP can facilitate this by removing the remaining barriers and regulatory-based discrimination by laying down rules to prevent further barriers from arising in future. A key part of TTIP is examining the future and how regulations are developed.

TTIP will make public contract opportunities more accessible. The US public procurement market is, after the EU, the second largest in the world, representing 11% of US GDP. Its growth potential is significant at the federal, state and local level. However, there are barriers which prevent Irish and European companies from realising their full potential in accessing the US procurement market. For example, public tenders often include some "buy America" clauses which give preference to domestic companies, and TTIP offers an opportunity to address restrictions, simplify non-transparent rules and procedures and improve access to markets. This can be done not only at the federal level, but, more importantly, at the state level in the United States. This would enable more Irish companies in sectors such as energy and infrastructure, software, accounting and professional services to participate in US public contract opportunities.

TTIP would also encourage and protect investment. An important consideration for companies when making investment decisions is whether they are adequately protected. A key objective of TTIP would be to ensure that EU company investments would be protected in the US, and US company investments would be protected in Europe. It will grant neutrality in the case of conflict through a comprehensive state-of-the-art investor to state dispute settlement mechanism. This is important not only for the TTIP agreement, but also for other free trade and investment agreements negotiated across the world. If the EU and US can agree to have standards for investment protection in their own agreement, they can be replicated elsewhere in negotiations. Ireland is somewhat of an outlier in an EU context in that it does not have bilateral investment treaties in place. However, this dispute settlement mechanism is a common practice in free trade agreements and in other member states' bilateral investment treaties, which come to a total of approximately 1,400. This provision has enhanced the confidence of EU investors, which are by far the largest group of investors in the world, with more than €4 trillion of stock outside the EU.

For the outlined reasons TTIP is worth the effort, ambition and commitment of both the EU institutions and the US Administration, as it could achieve a ground-breaking deal for both economies.