Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to make statements on the tariffs that we know are worrying people across the globe, this country and my constituency of Dublin Rathdown. Tá faitíos ar go leor daoine fud fad na tíre. Tá an faitíos sin orthu mar gheall ar a gcuid post, mar gheall ar chostais maireachtála agus mar gheall nach mbeidh na seirbhísí poiblí a theastaíonn uathu ann mar gheall ar cúlú eacnamaíoch. These concerns extend, in particular today, to the pharma sector in which, following the announcement we all woke up to this morning, people's jobs are increasingly under threat.

I will speak about three levels, namely, the ways in which, domestically, at EU level and globally, we need to respond to this. As Social Democrats, we emphasise that everything must remain on the table for now, from supports for consumers with regard to the cost-of-living increases we will see to supports for businesses in particular. This is not to suggest these supports need to be introduced or committed to immediately but they must remain an option. I am referring here to the mixed messaging we have heard from senior Government spokespeople over the past few days as to whether these supports will even be considered or remain on the table as an option.

I recommend in particular that the Government review the Kurzarbeit scheme in Germany, which has won plaudits from the OECD and elsewhere as a way to maintaining the employment-employer link that we all saw work so well during the Covid-19 pandemic when we had similar support in place. These supports will not be required to the same extent but they need to remain on the table.

Similarly, cost-of-living supports should be part of the upcoming budget. I note the Minister for Finance has already suggested that these will not be a part of this year's budgetary package. In the current context, they have to be part of the budget because people who are already living close to poverty or in poverty are now facing increasing prices, which we must take into account.

I also urge the Government to continue with the type of preparedness and analysis we saw with Brexit. We saw the Civil Service excel in its analysis of the situation and make suggestions as to the potential outcomes. I urge that this work be continued.

We all have to consider the situation of Northern Ireland and the fragile peace and stability we have. These have been held together by the Windsor Framework and now needs to be looked at anew in the current context in which differential tariff rates apply and there is potential for differential rates with regard to the EU retaliation.

On the EU level response, the EU is obviously where this will be negotiated. I welcome that the Government has been so hard at work in recent weeks and continues to represent Ireland's interests at EU level. It is vital that we prevent escalation in this context and continue to represent the position that retaliatory tit-for-tat tariffs are not good for anybody. Instead, we need to see partnership across the European Union and need to maintain unity because Trump will seek to sow disunity among member states. As one of the 27 member states, we have to ensure that what we commit to expresses our interests and maintains the European Union within that context.

We also urge the Government to push at European Union level for the repurposing of the European globalisation adjustment fund, which was set up to take account of the job losses on globalisation. I believe this fund can be repurposed for the moment we find ourselves in.

We must seek partners within the EU, particularly for our indigenous businesses, to ensure that where there are opportunities for market growth and supply chain sources, they are readily available. Enterprise Ireland does an incredible job in seeking those partners both within the European Union and globally. We must ensure that work continues so that indigenous businesses can be supported to repurpose their operations and continue to have lifelines to other markets if and when the American tariffs kick in and block out the potential of the US market.

We have seen that there is an over-reliance on one particular country. We have to ensure we invest in indigenous businesses. Unfortunately, despite the surpluses we have seen in recent years, we have not seen the investment in infrastructure that the Social Democrats have long called for. We need to commit to that now. Caithfimid a bheith ionraic faoin áit a bhfuilimid anois. Bhíomar ag brath an iomarca ar ár naisc thrádála le tír amháin. Caithfimid an deis a thapú naisc thrádála a neartú le tíortha san Aontas Eorpach agus tíortha eile ar fud an domhain chun poist, caighdeán maireachtála agus geilleagar na hÉireann a chosaint ar bhealach inbhuanaithe.

At a global level, we need to ensure we are looking at how we can co-ordinate with global partners to maximise our impact regarding any retaliatory measures taken. What I mean by that is that if we look to Latin America, Asia, Canada, Mexico and so on. Everybody is hurting from these tariffs and we need to ensure that we co-ordinate with these partners so that when we introduce retaliatory measures, we do so in sync with those other markets and countries to ensure they have as big an impact as possible on the US. We can also look at those other areas of the globe for alternatives to the markets and supply chains that will be disrupted for Irish businesses through these tariffs.

We also need, at a global level, to ensure we prevent any kind of race to the bottom. Our standards in the European Union ensure our consumers are protected and ensure we have a supply to our market of products and services we know we can rely on. We do not need to see any erosion of that. We know that Trump and his Administration are going after trade barriers as well as tariffs. There is a real risk that we will see a slippage of standards. We need to ensure that our voice prevents that as much as possible.

We also need to look at the US domestic context. We know the Trump Administration is very volatile, with tariffs announced, then revoked, reintroduced, paused and what-not. We are seeing pressure building up domestically in the US and a raft of domestic measures that is causing huge problems for Trump. Given that he constantly speaks to his base and relies on it, if anything is going to move him on this issue, it will come from inside.

My colleague Deputy Gannon will speak to the specific case of USAID, the United States Agency for International Aid, which is storing up trouble for the entire globe. On day one, Trump cut off USAID completely and is shutting down the agency. The impact that is having and will have is absolutely huge. There are also the cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, and the many other ways at a domestic level that Trump is causing havoc, as well as the legal challenges emerging as a result. We saw a huge mobilisation at the weekend and we can expect that to continue.

I will remark on Deputy Malcolm Byrne's comments on CETA and Mercosur. Social Democrats support an open economy. We know our open economy has been good for Ireland globally and we want to ensure that remains the case as much as possible. That does not mean that we have to drop our standards. Trade agreements have been in place since 2017 and are operating functionally but it is the investor court under CETA with which we have an issue. We will continue to have an issue with it because that is where we are starting to see slippage. Supporting an open economy and ensuring that Ireland works well in that context does not mean we have to compromise. I urge the Government to adopt the same position.

See this speech in context