Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

It is far too early to consider what position Ireland will have to take on a final WTO deal. We are still in the throes of negotiations and there is no certainty as yet in terms of the timing or shape of a final deal. The next couple of weeks will be crucial. It will be up to the Irish Government in the fullness of time to consider its position taking into account in an informed manner all the relevant factors when the shape and details of a final deal are known.

Similar estimations have been made by various representative bodies and shared with the Department. These assessments are also used to evaluate the various negotiating proposals which emerge from the discussions and to develop the Irish negotiating position in the negotiations.

A number of bodies and research institutes in Ireland and elsewhere have also carried out economic studies. Some of these analyses attempt a broader, overall assessment of possible outcomes of the negotiations. Inevitably, these studies are based on a wide range of assumptions about issues that are yet to be decided in the negotiations. My Department also considers and uses these studies to inform our negotiating strategy. In particular, I point to the FAPRI Ireland WTO analysis of impacts on Irish and EU agriculture of March 2006 and the 2003 Forfás WTO Negotiating Objectives for Irish Enterprise report. The FAPRI analysis is currently being updated.

The EU Commission recently presented its latest analysis of possible impacts of the most recent proposals from the chairman of the WTO agriculture committee. This analysis is currently the subject of ongoing discussions between member states and the Commission. Perhaps the Acting Chairman would tell me at this point how much time I have remaining.

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