Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

During his meetings in Canada or subsequently, has the Taoiseach had discussions with Prime Minister Trudeau about the very worrying action by the United States of America in the context of the dispute between Boeing and the Canadian firm, Bombardier, and the imminent threat it poses to thousands of jobs in the North? We have been talking about Brexit, on and off, over a very long period of time. All of us are concerned about the huge threat to jobs that it poses, particularly in the North. The imposition by the US of a 219% tariff on Bombardier in the context of its ongoing dispute with Boeing is probably the worst possible example of what the free trade regime might look like in the context of a total British exit from the EU, particularly with regard to Northern Ireland.

I know the Taoiseach has expressed his friendship to the Canadian Prime Minister both here and in Canada. The Boeing, Bombardier issue was well flagged at the time of the Taoiseach's visit to Canada. Did he, during his meetings with the Prime Minister, have a specific opportunity to discuss it with Mr. Trudeau or did he phone him to discuss it subsequently? In terms of jobs in Belfast, this is probably the greatest imminent threat we have seen to high level, industrial jobs. While most of the jobs are male jobs, they are in the Belfast area. They are high level engineering and technical jobs in the factories involved.

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