Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Informal meetings of EU trade Ministers will take place tomorrow, 21 February. I understand it is proposed to advance two negotiating mandates for trade talks with the United States of America. This is despite the US President's position on withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The position set out by the EU Commission and EU leaders in 2018 was that real commitment to climate action and the Paris Agreement is a precondition to any trade deal providing access to EU markets. I ask the Leader to send a message to the Minister that we need to put our money where our mouth is. We must hold the line and show leadership.I ask the Leader to request that the Minister attends this House when he comes back from the meeting to outline the Irish position at those discussions.

I have raised the issue of attracting high skilled workers from across the world and how we treat their partners and families several times in this House. Often those partners and families arrive with a stamp 1 visa but it can take up to 14 weeks to get a stamp 3 visa and that is even before they can apply for a job. If we are to seek people to come to work and live in Ireland and contribute to the economy and society, we should at least deal with and treat their partners fairly. A 14-week delay is unacceptable to me. We would give out and we would argue strongly if that was the way Irish people were being treated abroad but this is how we are treating people whom we have asked to come to work and live in Ireland, yet we treat their family and partners in this manner. I ask the Leader to bring in the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, at her earliest convenience to discuss this. She is the Minister responsible because the 14-week delay occurs in her Department, even though on several occasions her officials have denied this in respect of legislation.