Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Higgins and I congratulate Deputy Ruth Coppinger on her election to the House. I am sure she does not need to learn anything but she has a good stiúrthóir beside her as Contae Chiarraí.

It is important to remember that things are not how they used to be. People from this country no longer go to America with one hand as long as the other. Some 80,000 to 100,000 American people are employed in Irish-owned and Irish-run firms across 50 states. This is set to continue and to expand, which is an important recognition of the progress we have made with our people over many years. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, has the potential to create 500,000 jobs in Europe and a similar number in the United States. Europe and the United States have a closely integrated economic relationship, but it is not one that has been fulfilled in terms of job potential.

The Deputy refers to the difficult situation in so far as the purchase of Bausch & Lomb is concerned, and I hope discussions taking place there can sort it out in a way that means Waterford and the south east do not lose out heavily. Recently, I was at Intel in Leixlip, which has spent €5 billion in the past three years. It is the single biggest investment in the history of the State, with 5,000 construction workers from this country employed for the past number of years building a plant that no one is working in yet but which will guarantee the future for highly skilled Irish workers and others over the coming 25 years. It is the first time in 40 years that Irish engineers were challenged and came up with a positive outcome in designing, instead of just manufacturing, a chip in the Intel plant in Leixlip. It is a case of intellectual property being vested here and it is an extraordinary achievement when we consider what is coming at us in terms of the Internet.

The Allergan plant in Westport is the subject of a €300 million investment, with considerable employment being created in its construction. I was in Sligo last week with the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, at the opening of the AbbVie plant, which is another significant investment. There is a very highly skilled workforce and they will produce the serum and the vaccine for hepatitis C. It has a cure rate of 95% in respect of the people it is intended for and it brings comfort and quality of life to millions of people around the world. Around 23,000 people will benefit in Ireland. It is an expensive drug but it is being produced by AbbVie in Sligo.

I did not discuss the intricacies of fracking with President Obama. Clearly, it has transformed United States, but I am not sure everyone would be happy with the outcome in terms of the way it is performed in some states. It has reduced energy prices by considerable amounts in the US, while Europe has gone the other way in terms of increasing energy prices. It makes it so much more competitive for serious investment and with regard to companies' long-term decisions to locate in the United States as opposed to Europe. That is not to say that we must have fracking everywhere. There are arguments for and against these issues, and the Keystone pipeline is a major issue of discussion in the United States between Canada and the area southwards. It is an issue for the American Government to deal with.

With regard to the relationship between the EU and the US, I do not see why we should be afraid of this. These are the two most economically developed entities on the planet and we can set down the conditions for world trade for the coming 25 years or 30 years, assuming we can get a conclusion on the TTIP arrangements. When the matter was raised at the G8 meeting at Loch Erne in Fermanagh, which I attended because Ireland held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the response was swift. The discussions have been progressive, as I understand it, and there are very good people representing Europe and the United States. There are difficulties in the United States that always come to light when we get down to the nitty-gritty. People will say they are in favour of free trade until it begins to hit a particular sector. That is where the discussions must get the parties together. The proposal for the TTIP agreement has the potential to boost the GDP of Europe by 0.5% and create between 400,000 and 500,000 jobs. Another advantage is that the agreement will enable Europe, and Ireland as a consequence, to develop the regulatory standards that are of benefit not only to the EU and the US but to other countries as well, and to strengthen the multilateral trading system, which is of particular importance in the area of intellectual property rights, and the environment and labour standards of which the Deputy speaks. These are important issues and there will be a global knock-on effect.

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has commissioned a study that is expected to be completed in the coming eight to ten weeks to identify more precisely the sectors in Ireland from where the greatest opportunity and economic impact can come. Our flexibility and the many creative firms here mean this is an opportunity for us. If jobs are our priority, as they are, we must use every opportunity to ensure that more people can be employed as a consequence of providing services that we know we can deal with.

Europeans are serious about the TTIP, as are the Americans. Many of the issues are complicated, technical and difficult and we may not get agreement on them all, but there is no harm in trying to move on from stage to stage. This is about jobs in Europe, jobs in Ireland and jobs in the US, and I am all for that, subject to the conditions that apply in normal good regulatory situations.

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