Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the importance of trade to the economy and our economic development. We are happy to support the motion. It recognises Ireland’s performance in the area of trade and investment, but it also recognises the challenges that international developments pose for us, as the previous speakers have identified. As part of my role, I have been tasked with driving employment growth and investment in Ireland, especially outside the greater Dublin area, with expanding our agency presence abroad - previous speakers have spoken about the importance of that, which I recognise, and of the work with our embassies - and with ensuring Ireland is business ready for Brexit. I will be working with the agencies such as IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to ensure Irish enterprises are Brexit ready and prepared to face all the challenges and the opportunities with regard to Brexit, and that we continue to have a strong foreign direct investment offering for businesses seeking to locate here. I also intend to take an active role, as requested by the Taoiseach, in regard to our programme of trade missions.

We should reflect on the outstanding successes to date of our trade policy, which are very evident. Exports are at a record high. The value of total exports from Ireland has increased by more than a third, from €175 billion in 2011 to an estimated €240 billion this year, an important success story for all our citizens. Foreign direct investment is also at a record high. IDA Ireland companies created almost 19,000 new jobs in 2016 across a range of sectors, and importantly, every region of Ireland benefited. Overall, unemployment, as we all know, is now down to 6.4%, the lowest level since October 2008.

In March of this year, the Government launched Ireland Connected: Trading and Investing in a Dynamic World. This is a whole-of-government strategy, which sets out very ambitious targets for Ireland's exports, foreign direct investment, tourism and international education. The strategy outlines our response to the current highly dynamic global environment and how we will meet these challenges.

We aim to increase our indigenous exports by Enterprise Ireland supported companies, including food, to reach €26 billion by 2020. It is an ambitious target. Over the same period we aim to secure 900 new foreign direct investments. We know the impact that every foreign direct investment we get has on each and every community. We will support geographic market diversification so that Irish-owned exports to non-UK markets increase by 50% - going out and seeking new markets is very important - while maintaining our exports of at least €7.5 billion to the UK. Our targets represent a clear statement of purpose. I have already met representatives of IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to discuss these targets and the progress that is being made towards meeting them. All of this reaffirms that we are outward-looking country, strongly committed to international trade and the highest regulatory standards, which is also a very important element.

The motion refers to the challenges and I want to make a few points about those also. In recent years, we have all become aware of the potential dangers of disruptive technological, geopolitical and financial forces that could have implications for the Irish economy. Most obviously, Brexit and the potential policy changes under the US Administration - we have to wait and see how they play out over the next few months - may be threats to our future growth path in such an interconnected world.

We are dealing with an array of other challenges and opportunities also. The digitisation of trade is revolutionising how people access and pay for goods and services, and how companies reach markets. There is an area where there is a good deal of work to be done with Irish companies. We see in the manufacturing sector and in other areas the need to deal with these new opportunities. New technologies are disrupting industry norms but they are also enabling huge transformational change and opening up new economic sectors. Increasingly, free movement of people, information, materials and finance across borders mean that global value chains are becoming ever more interlinked and global competition, as result, has intensified. That creates new trading patterns and drives companies to become continually more innovative and competitive. Supporting innovation in all of our companies is very important. That is why we have been putting more and more money into research and development, as our companies have to maximise the opportunities that are presenting now.

One of the keys to our success is our commitment to trade liberalisation in order to open new markets for our indigenous sectors. Our membership of the EU is absolutely critical and the Government has been very clear on that in the context of Brexit. Our commitment to the EU international trade agenda is steadfast. With a small domestic market, expansion to other markets is a prerequisite for economic growth. Membership of the EU has not only given us access to 27 markets within the Single Market, but also access to 53 global markets through the EU free trade agreements. The EU trade agreement and agenda is moving swiftly ahead. There are currently 20 trade deals at different stages of negotiation. Deputy McGuinness commented on the importance of this area. At present, the EU is implementing six new generation free trade agreements with Korea, Central America, Columbia and Peru, Ecuador, Georgia and Moldova, and Ukraine. It is also implementing a further seven economic partnership agreements with countries of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of states. People have different views on this but I welcome the progress of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, which the European Parliament approved in plenary on 15 February and which had already been approved by the European Parliament environmental committee and by the International Trade Committee, from which Ireland should begin to immediately benefit in the coming months.

My colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for training and skills, will speak further regarding CETA later, but I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm that the Oireachtas will be part of the final decision, as necessary, on ratification in due course.

EU trade policy is not only about creating new economic opportunities, however, and it is important to say this. It is grounded in broader European values such as promoting ambitious climate change mitigation, protecting the environment, guaranteeing food safety and security, as well as the protection and promotion of labour rights. In line with the EU’s global strategy, the EU’s trade policy is consistent with its wider foreign policy objectives to pursue a policy that benefits society as a whole and promotes European and human rights standards and values alongside our core economic interests. In a debate such as this, it is very important to make that point.

Ireland works actively and closely with the European Commission and other institutions in the negotiation of these trade agreements. My Department is responsible for formulating, prioritising and advocating national policy positions on international trade and investment agreements and trade liberalisation initiatives. We also work intensively at multilateral level in the World Trade Organization to ensure there is an open and fair global trading system for all, including for less developed countries.

My commitment as Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is to ensure Ireland continues to turn outwards, which is very important in the context of the kind of world which we have been talking about in this debate, to trade more into Europe and across the world, intensifying our work in existing markets, diversifying into new ones, working with our embassies, the diaspora and all those tremendous Irish groups which we see across the globe, and connecting in and forming partnerships with them as well as the more traditional type of work that we have done. The goal is to deliver real results for Irish business, our country and our people.

I thank Deputy Collins for the opportunity to come to the House to discuss the importance of trade for the Irish economy, to make very clear and unequivocal statements about the approach of the Irish Government to trade policy and the central importance of trade. It also gives me the opportunity to reaffirm the Government’s consistent policy of and absolute commitment to fostering investment, growing jobs, supporting our indigenous companies and our exporters and making sure there is further foreign direct investment. Our response to Brexit is to support firms expanding in existing markets and also to break into new ones. We must have trade deals to open up new markets, otherwise talk of diversification is just that: talk.

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