Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil is very much a pro-trade party as we demonstrated most recently in our support for the Canadian and Japanese trade deals. As a small, open island economy, we depend on our openness to trade, without which we would not survive. However, it is important that we trade with countries which apply the same standards and regulatory requirements as we do. As part of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, however, we are now proposing to deal with a country that clears an area of the Amazon rainforest the size of a football pitch every hour of every day. What does that say about the environment? When it comes to beef, it is a country with no database or traceability and in which growth promoters are widely available. However, I will leave that matter to my colleague, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture.

I would appreciate if the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation could be tight in reply to the following specific questions. In reply to a parliamentary question I submitted last week, the Minister confirmed that as negotiations proceeded, member states were consulted on an ongoing basis. What was the level of consultation the Minister and her colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, had with the Commission? At any stage during the recent discussions on the €50 million to help Irish beef farmers, did it raise its head that 99,000 tonnes of beef would be coming into the EU? Given the recent positive focus on the environment in Ireland and at EU level, did the Government question or raise concerns about the abuse of the tropical Amazonian rainforest and the impact of its deforestation on the global environment? The Government spoke last year about the appointment of a trade modelling firm of Copenhagen economists to carry out an assessment of the EU-Mercosur agreement. That assessment is to be updated in light of the new draft proposals. When can we expect the economic assessment to be published? When can we expect the environmental assessment to be published? It is worth noting that there is significant economic potential from the perspective of our pharmaceutical sector, which accounts for 55% of our exports, and IT and software, in which sector we are the second largest producer in the world.

My final question relates to the report of the National Competitiveness Council which was launched in April 2019. According to the executive summary of the report, if prices in Ireland are too high relative to productivity, it damages Ireland's competitiveness, making it more difficult for Irish businesses to export. The summary further states that the evidence is clear that Ireland is a high-cost economy. In 2017, Ireland was the fifth most expensive economy in the EU and prices were 13% higher than the EU average. What is the Minister doing to tackle high costs for businesses in Ireland? The Government is talking about promoting a trade deal, but it will be very difficult to trade with any country when we are coming from a base of such high utilities costs, costs of credit and business services and input costs.

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