Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The figures on our trade with the US, including our exports there, are something else, not to mention the figures on the services we import, which are even double those figures. The figure I have for exports to the US in 2024 is €103 billion. I am not arguing over figures at all; the enormity of the figures speaks for itself. My question is on the analysis that has been done by the Minister. He is saying it has been undertaken and that the results will be published in the economic outlook in April. I would have thought we would have been considering this more acutely now, given that what we are talking about what happened before – in 2019, I believe – when tariffs were introduced and subsequently suspended by Mr. Biden. What did we learn from that?

I agree with the Minister that our policy has brought enormous benefit to the country. However, we have been warned repeatedly that we are in serious danger of relying on a small few companies bringing in a substantial amount of tax. For a long time, we have been under pressure in respect of developing a different type of policy. Extending our policy might be better.

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