Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a fair point to say that the curious thing about Prime Minister Trudeau's visit is how our Government's primary objective seemed to focus on personal publicity rather than on issues of substance, and while Prime Minister Trudeau did do events linked to Irish economic strengths, it was surprising that the Taoiseach decided to emphasise other aspects.

The CETA agreement is the most important issue of substance at the moment in Irish-Canadian relations. I remind Deputy Adams that we tabled a Private Member's motion here on CETA and enterprise, which was passed, and there was a debate about the issue in the Dáil some weeks ago. Perhaps he was not around or did not realise that this had happened. We did it for a reason. I attended a Dublin Castle event and met representatives of some companies. Among them was a small company from Limerick which employs around 80 people. I asked them if they realised that there was a chorus of negativity around CETA in Dáil Éireann, and they were taken aback.

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