Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would make the same point to Deputy McDonald as I did to Deputy Martin. This is a trade deal where, over a very long period, Irish Government Ministers have stridently sought to reduce the originally sought 300,000 tonnes of beef from entering the European market. We have made that case consistently and we continue to be of the view that the 99,000 tonnes is a threat to our industry. However, we need to look at this agreement in the round. While the Deputy refuses to recognise this, it does contain significant opportunities for Irish workers and, indeed, for Irish farmers in the dairy sector. It also, for the first time, locks in countries with which we trade to principles, such as subscription to the Paris Agreement, which, as the Deputy knows, is the agreement that provides binding obligations on countries to tackle climate change. This is a new type of trade deal that locks in countries which are participating and which want access to our markets to those sorts of commitments. It also provides very strong protections in respect of food standards. I know many people, including farmers, have concerns that substandard products would be allowed into European markets under these agreements. Those are very strongly protected within the agreement.

In terms of the Irish Government position, the Deputy has probably heard the Taoiseach outline that he will undertake an evaluation of this deal and he has reserved his position until that evaluation is done, something Deputies in this House do not seem willing to do. There are checks and balances, and that is true of every trade deal. I have never seen a trade deal come before this House where certain parties, including the Deputy’s party, would be stridently opposed to it but, nonetheless, trade agreements such as these have opened opportunities for Irish business. I have been on trade missions with Irish companies where we have had the chance to take advantage of that and to move away from our dependence on markets like Britain to having a more diverse base of trading relationships.

This is really important to a small open trading economic like ours. We need to step back. We recognise that there are threats to a very important sector here. We need to use the timeframe between now and final ratification of the deal to examine it and make our case in a cogent way, because these documents have to be drawn up in detail.

My understanding as to whether the Dáil will have a role is that that depends on the legal interpretation of whether this is a mixed agreement or purely a trade agreement. If it is a mixed agreement, which is probably likely, then the Dáil will have a role in the ratification.

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