Dáil debates

Tuesday, 17 May 2005

Ceisteanna — Questions.

Irish-US Trade.

2:30 pm

Photo of Bernard AllenBernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 4: To ask the Taoiseach the value of trade between Ireland and the US for 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13493/05]

Photo of Tom KittTom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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The value of merchandise trade between Ireland and the USA in 2004 was €7 billion in the case of imports, as based on country of origin, and €16.5 billion for exports.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Has the Minister of State gleaned trends from that information? Will the Minister of State indicate the direction this trend is taking and its extent? To what extent may we rely on this trend developing, given that in recent times we have seen the relocation of manufacturing jobs, on more than one occasion — some from my constituency — to more competitive locations? I wonder if the Minister of State can assure the House that this negative trend will not continue. Perhaps he can indicate what the future holds in that regard in the long term.

Photo of Tom KittTom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I have some very detailed information I am glad to share with the Deputy. My colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, and others have continuously pointed out that the jobs associated with Irish trade are high quality. The emphasis is on this and the Government's approach is to concentrate on high quality jobs taken up by highly educated people. That is the ongoing trend, as well as trying to deal with jobs at all levels.

As regards the types of areas that are expanding I will give the Deputy some statistics on the top five in the export area and the top five involved in imports, since he has asked about trade. I will outline the overall trends supported by figures. The value of merchandise trade between Ireland and the USA for the years 2001-2004 was: exports €15.7 billion and imports €8.7 billion — 2001; exports €16.5 billion and imports €8.5 billion — 2002; exports €16.9 billion and imports €7.4 billion — 2003; and exports €16.5 billion and imports €7.0 billion — 2004.

It may be of interest that this table outlines the most significant product mix for exports and imports, respectively, expressed in millions. Top of the exports list are organic chemicals —€5.283 billion; medical and pharmaceutical products —€2.19 billion; and office machines and automatic data processing machines. These are followed by professional, scientific and controlling apparatus and miscellaneous manufactured articles. On the imports side the top five are office machines and automatic data processing machines, miscellaneous manufacturing articles, electrical machinery apparatus and appliances, other transport equipment and organic chemicals.

These are the statistics we are working with and all I can do is share them with the Deputy. We are talking about high quality areas, such as pharmaceuticals. I presume "other transport equipment" means aircraft etc., on the imports side. As regards medical and pharmaceutical products etc. we are talking about companies as big as Wyeth. On the professional scientific and controlling apparatus side, companies such as Boston Scientific are involved. These are high quality companies that are obviously providing very fine jobs.

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The worrying aspect of the Minister of State's reply is that he relies upon high quality jobs that have been retained, in support of his argument. The theory is that we are losing low quality jobs. The trend that he has just read out for the years 2001-04 does not indicate this at all. It indicates a reversal. Exports started off at €15.7 billion, then reached €16.5 billion, €16.9 billion and €16.5 billion again. Will the Minister of State agree that the worrying underlying aspect is that we are losing manufacturing jobs, some of them to North America in recent weeks? This is a very bad indicator from the viewpoint of the economy's competitiveness. While it may be agreeable worldwide to say that Ireland has a high wage economy, a harsh lesson has been learned historically, namely that when we priced ourselves out of the market nobody had any sympathy for us. Will the Minister of State indicate whether it is likely that steps will be taken by the various Departments to whom these statistics apply to address that particularly worrying aspect of the trend?

Photo of Tom KittTom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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We must take account of the rate of the dollar versus the euro when looking at those figures. All these data are vital for policy makers. There are valuable jobs across the board apart from the highly paid ones and there are other industries on the list that the Deputy would know from his constituency, such as meat and dairy products and beverages. There are all sorts of areas that sustain valuable jobs. I will ensure the data are passed on to the relevant Ministers and that they will focus on them.

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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American companies located here are highly profitable. Up to €20 billion is exported in profits by multinationals every year. How much of that is accounted for by US-based multinationals? Is that included in the figures or do exports refer exclusively to products?

Photo of Tom KittTom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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We are talking about country of origin. Pharmaceutical companies sending products to Belgium and on to the United States would be included. That information is available from the data.

Photo of Joe HigginsJoe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Are repatriated profits included in the data on exports?

Photo of Tom KittTom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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No.