Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I fully recognise that TTIP, and the process it involves, is full of many complex and difficult issues. Nobody wants a bad deal and along within every country, we in Ireland have our priorities. The Copenhagen economic study has shown that the right agreement could create anything up to 10,000 jobs here. Irish companies in the US employ approximately 80,000 people. Regulatory coherence between the US and the EU is a worthy goal and it should not and will not come at the cost of lowering operational practices for food safety, which the Deputy mentioned, employment protections or environmental health standards. Environmental, food safety and labour standards will continue to be at EU level and accountable to this House.

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