Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The displacement of 1.3 million jobs in Europe will be an economic shock to 1.3 million families. The Minister has given information on a global scale about the objectives of TTIP with regard to increased trade and business levels, etc. All we are seeking is the detail. There is pressure at the moment for TTIP to be delivered very quickly. We are asking the Government to set out its stall in advance of TTIP being concluded to explain how SMEs will deal with the new transatlantic trade deal. How will we deal with the workers who will be displaced? There are 20 million SMEs across the EU. They account for 99.8% of all enterprises. If we look at the experience of the US with the North American Free Trade Agreement, we will see that the percentage of exports in which SMEs were involved actually declined over the period of experience of the agreement. It is not the case that SMEs generally experience upward motion when these large trade agreements are reached. The truth is that multinationals experience upward movement. Our fear is that TTIP is orientated towards the needs and benefits of multinationals and against the needs and benefits of SMEs and workers.

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