Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my voice today, which is not good. I welcome the opportunity to discuss the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA, between the European Union and Canada.Fianna Fáil will not be supporting this motion as we believe an ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement will benefit Ireland in terms of increased jobs and business opportunities for Ireland. This is on the basis that, as an exporting country, Ireland stands to benefit disproportionately from the potential of expanded tariff-free market access. The opportunities presented by this agreement will be especially valuable for SMEs given that trade barriers tend to disproportionately burden smaller firms which have fewer resources to overcome them than larger firms.

CETA will remove more than 99% of tariffs between the two economies and create sizeable new market access opportunities in services and investment. It will provide Irish companies with complete access to Canadian public tenders, for example. A strong trading relationship exists between Ireland and Canada, as has been alluded to, and it is reflected in the €2.75 billion of annual trade between both countries. Indigenous Irish company exports to Canada have grown by more than 250% in the five years to 2015 at €185 million. It has been predicted that CETA will result in a €250 million increase in Irish exports per year.

Fianna Fáil supports free trade and removing barriers to trade. This is essential for Ireland to be successful. As a small open economy, we need other markets to thrive. However, we also believe that trade deals must be fair and must protect the position of states. Ensuring the protection of European standards is a red line issue which Ireland must uphold. CETA will not affect EU rules on food safety or the environment. Canadian products will only be able to be imported to and sold in the EU if they fully respect EU regulations. EU standards related to consumer protection, health, social and labour standards will remain untouched and CETA does not affect EU restrictions on genetically-modified organisms or beef containing growth hormones.

The agrifood sector is our biggest domestic industry with Ireland exporting 90% of everything we produce. We are heavily dependent on foreign market access for our world-renowned produce. Under CETA, Ireland stands to benefit from practically unlimited tariff-free access for most of our food exports, with Canada fully liberalising 95% of agricultural product imports from the EU. While increased access to the EU market was granted for Canadian beef, this was minimised to a quantity corresponding to about 0.6% - less than 1% - of total EU consumption. There is also an expectation that Canada will not be in a position to fill the beef quota allocated for the foreseeable future anyway.

Greater access was granted to the Canadian market for EU dairy products while concessions granted by Canada on market access for EU beef will be of benefit to Irish producers. It is vital that the cumulative impact of beef concessions under CETA and other trade agreements is closely monitored so that the approach continues to be in the best interests of EU and Irish producers particularly.

Fianna Fáil shares the concerns of citizens on to the controversial investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, known as the ISDS, and the ability of powerful companies to sue sovereign governments. Fianna Fáil understands the concerns of citizens regarding transparency surrounding arbitration processes and believes the Government should ensure these concerns are addressed. However, we welcome the European Commission’s proposal to lead the way in reforming the global investment regime into a public investment court system which will operate like traditional courts.

Nearly two thirds of Irish people who emigrate to Canada have third level degrees, with around 10,000 international experience Canadian visas allotted to Ireland annually. CETA facilitates the mutual recognition of qualifications in regulated professions such as architecture, accountancy and engineering, as has been mentioned, giving our highly-skilled graduates who chose to seek international work experience seamless access without any barriers.

We welcome the recent Commission decision that the full entering into force of CETA between the EU and Canada will only occur with the consent of the EU Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and significantly through national ratification procedures by member states. The EU Council - the member state trade Ministers - with consent from the EU Parliament can decide to provisionally apply CETA, as has been referred to, in those areas under exclusive EU competence, pending final ratification by agreement of member states.

These areas constitute more than 90% of the text of CETA and include the all-important chapters on public procurement, rules and tariffs. Provisional application will not apply to those areas over which member states have competence and will not apply to investment protection and investment dispute settlement. The benefit of supporting provisional application is to allow Irish businesses to avail of tariff-free benefits and new business opportunities as soon as possible. There should be no obstruction to Irish companies immediately taking advantage of the provisions of CETA which are EU competent.

Fianna Fáil welcomes and fully supports the firm commitment of the European Commission and the 27 other member states that EU standards are not up for negotiation in such trade agreements. Ireland must work with our European partners to ensure this commitment is upheld. No agreement is ever perfect. There are certainly issues to be clarified and dealt with. However, on balance, it is a good agreement for the EU with Canada and it is a good agreement for Ireland.