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

There is a very straightforward answer to the point the Deputy has made. He has made it several times, for example, in respect of Germany. The latter has a shorter list than Ireland and it is important to note that the German list is prepared by the 16 Länder while Ireland's is a single national list. That is the first point to explain the disparity between the two lists.

Ireland is an open trading economy. Under successive governments Ireland has continued to promote a policy for open international trade and competition. This has greatly benefited our economy. The process by which decisions are made regarding exemptions is through a comprehensive consultation with Departments at every stage of a negotiation of a free trade agreement.

The EU Canada economic and trade agreement, CETA, commits Canada, the EU and its Member States to permit access to each others domestic services market and to treat foreign services suppliers no less favourably than their own service suppliers.

It is important to note that one of the features of Canada-Ireland economic relations has been the high level of Canadian investment in Ireland, which we welcome. We will also welcome the visit of the Canadian Prime Minister next week. At the end of 2015, Ireland's FDI stocks in Canada amounted to over €4 billion, making Ireland the thirteenth largest source of FDI to Canada, and there are some 400 Enterprise Ireland client companies doing business in Canada.

There are exceptions to the general commitments to liberalisation of the services market. These are listed in Annex I, reservations for existing measures and liberalisation commitments, and Annex II, reservations for future measures to the agreement. There are EU-specific exceptions that cover all of the member states and Ireland is also covered by its own specific exceptions. We need to look at those two lists.

The annexes list all the existing measures and restrictions that the EU and Ireland want to maintain in respect of Canadian service providers. It is important to note that CETA does not cover public services. EU member states will be able to retain ownership of public monopolies, CETA will not force governments to privatise or deregulate public services - such as the water supply, health or education - and EU member states will continue to be able to decide which public services they want to keep public and subsidise them.

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