Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The legacy of 25 different regulatory regimes from 25 different legal systems has prevented this being achieved, despite the fact that the free provision of services and the freedom of establishment are enshrined in the Treaty of Rome of 1957. For large companies which can afford in-house legal teams, this is problematic but manageable. For small and medium size companies and enterprises, having to deal with the language barriers that trading in Europe entails is hard enough, without being lumbered with complex and unnecessary regulations.

The rewards for Ireland and Europe of the successful negotiation of the services directive are huge. While consumers have benefited for years from a much greater choice of manufactured goods, the same cannot be said for many services. The entry by Bank of Scotland into the Irish banking market shows the potential gains for consumers in numerous other areas. Independent analyses conducted by European economic institutes suggest that a welfare gain of €40 billion and 500,000 jobs is attainable from opening up the European services market. An economic analysis undertaken by Forfás suggests gains in the order of €450 million for Ireland.

Many small and medium size Irish enterprises have the talent, energy and know-how to compete with the best in Europe. However, they are being constrained by onerous red tape or downright discriminatory regulations in other European countries, and would benefit significantly from the services directive, allowing access to a potential market of 450 million consumers.

Commentators who continually bemoan the so-called rip-off Ireland cannot now object to every measure that is taken to try to open up Irish services to international competition. Firms such as Aer Lingus have gone through this painful process of competition and now offer a quality, competitive service supporting sustainable jobs. This experience can be repeated many times over on a smaller scale if a true single market in services in Europe is created.

This is the context in which the services directive has emerged. Unfortunately, much confusion surrounds this directive because of its complexity. Its wide scope and complexity reflect the fact that it is rarely one regulation or law that dissuades companies from trading in other EU countries, but the cumulative effect of a plethora of regulations or red tape.

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