Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is most unsatisfactory, as Opposition Members have pointed out previously, when the Taoiseach gives overly lengthy answers of up to 20 minutes. Instead of beating around the bush, he should answer the questions put to him in a succinct fashion. He could do so in a fraction of the time he sometimes take. I at least will be succinct in my questions.

Greatly exaggerated claims are being made about the alleged benefits of the European Union-United States trade agreement which the Taoiseach is very anxious to advance. Figures are being bandied about for which there is no concrete basis, including talk of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of jobs. It is useful to bear in mind that the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement did not result in increased jobs, despite claims to the contrary at the time. In this country, we are still waiting for the Taoiseach and his right-wing political party colleagues to reveal all the jobs that were promised during the campaigns preceding the referenda on the Lisbon treaty.

Is the Taoiseach aware that what is being sought by big business interests in both the United States and Europe is the total and absolute liberalisation of public services? Is he aware that the standards or thresholds demanded by these entities are the most liberal regulations in existing free trade agreements? Wherever such liberal provisions exist, representatives of big business want them brought into any agreement between the United States and the European Union. They are demanding minimum regulation and full access to public services so they can grab whatever is going. This will have major consequences in the form of a race to the bottom in terms of workers' wages, conditions, safety and so on.

Does the Taoiseach recognise the major problems that would arise for agriculture as a result of a free trade agreement? United States agribusiness has massively different standards even to those in the European Union when it comes to food safety. Big business in America wants access for hormone-treated beef to the European Union. That is not acceptable to people in Europe. It wants access for chlorine-sterilised chicken. That is not acceptable to consumers in Europe. It wants full access for genetically modified organisms, crops and so on. That is not acceptable to the majority of people within the European Union, yet the Taoiseach is seeking to facilitate a process by which these measures will be bludgeoned through. He should bear in mind that on foot of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, the Canadian Government is being taken to court by big business corporations seeking billions of euro in compensation on the basis of their claim that the moratorium on fracking in Quebec is in breach of the agreement. That is the type of liability to which the Government would have us exposed.

It is time the Taoiseach stopped trying to fool the working-class people of this country, who are over the barrel with austerity taxes, on the issue of what corporations pay, both rates and amounts. Government policy on this matter, which is supported by the Fianna Fáil Party, is being exposed. How can he use the word "transparency" when these massive tax dodges by large multinational corporations are such that Dublin, Holland and Bermuda now constitute a taxation swindle triangle. We are facilitating these companies to avoid paying taxes not only in Ireland, but in many poor countries throughout the world. I do not have time to go into it now but Christian Aid, for instance, has done excellent work in revealing the level of tax avoidance - to use the legal term; I would say "tax robbery" - by these large business interests, which are stealing from the poorest people in the world. This country is part of that process.

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