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

The recent visit of Speaker Pelosi and the wider congressional delegation was welcome and reinforced the strength of contact between our two parliaments and countries. Many in Congress are just as worried as the majority here about the possibility that we are entering into a period where there will be rising conflict on trade matters. At various times in the past two years, the Trump Administration has initiated moves against trade with the European Union. President Trump backed off from some of these moves and there are negotiations under way which appear to be going nowhere. The expectation is that as he gets closer to his re-election campaign, he will ramp up his rhetoric against trade deals and there will at least be serious turbulence. There also appears to be no possibility of reactivating the ambitious deal which was being discussed by the European Union and the Obama Administration. This is serious for Ireland, given how much we rely on international trade for employment. As we keep seeing from various parties and candidates, anti-trade rhetoric here is strong. Those who use it are almost never challenged to explain to the workers who rely on trade where else their jobs and wages will come from.

Will the Taoiseach indicate what he expects to happen in the next six months in the context of US-EU trade talks, the wider trade environment and the implications for Ireland? Will he raise this matter with President Trump when he arrives in Ireland, in particular his negativity towards the European Union?

In a wider context, are there any efforts under preparation to explain the central role of trade in Ireland's economy and the implications for us of new barriers to trade being created? When will we have a debate on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement in this House? We provoked a debate on CETA but that was in Private Members' business. I am at a loss as to why we have not had a full blown debate on the matter in the House.

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