Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

The European Commission proposal for a directive on services in the Internal Market is one of the most ambitious proposals for regulatory reform undertaken in the European Union. It has the goal of creating a real and genuine internal market in services. Up to now, it has not been possible to exploit the great potential for economic growth and job creation afforded by the services sector because of the many obstacles obstructing the development of the sector across the 25 member states of the EU.

A study undertaken by Forfás shows that the annual benefit to Ireland of the directive could be greater than €400 million. This benefit would come in the form of savings to Irish consumers due to the fact that previously sheltered sectors would face competition from abroad. Further benefits would come from the opening of the markets of other EU member states to Irish service providers. This was a key theme in the report of the enterprise strategy group chaired by Eoin O'Driscoll. Potential growth sectors identified in the O'Driscoll report include private education, intellectual property, international sales and marketing, supply chain and management, and professional and consultancy services.

As Minister of State with responsibility for trade and commerce, I take encouragement from the work done by Forfás and the enterprise strategy group. As the Minister stated, Ireland is already punching above its weight in services trade and the adoption of a fair and balanced services directive would ensure that we would continue to do so by removing barriers to trade within the EU. The target now is to provide the legal certainty that will allow consumers and producers to take full advantage of the major opportunities opened up by the creation of free movement of services between member states, a principle already enshrined in the European treaty.

There have been two main aspects to the Government's approach to the consideration of the Commission proposal, both of equal importance. We want to see a regulatory framework that allows a services market without barriers to become a reality, as well as a regulatory framework that provides for the appropriate controls to be put in place to uphold the rights and obligations of all citizens. This is a major yet crucial task.

The history of this proposal is clouded in controversy, most of it undeserved but arising probably from poor presentation, inadequate examination and huge complexity but also, in some cases, deliberate misrepresentation, political opportunism and downright scaremongering.

See this speech in context