Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. I am looking for an update on conversations that have been happening with the European Commission on tariffs with America. As we are all aware, an agreement had been reached a number of weeks or months ago of a 15% tariff for the EU with America. There had been a certain level of fear that that might change for pharmaceuticals and the medtech sector. Thankfully we have got clarity that it will remain at 15% even though other countries seem to be up at 100%.

I am asking about this because of the volatility in America where things can change very quickly. What conversations is the European Commission having? What is its strategy for dealing with America with the constant fear of things changing almost overnight? I spoke to a delegation from Switzerland and they were talking about the negotiations they had with America on tariffs. Everything had been agreed up to the morning that the agreement went to the White House, but within three hours everything changed and the tariffs were massively increased. The same has happened with Japan to a lesser extent.

As the Minister of State comes from Limerick, he will be very well aware of this. I speak about it in the context of my home town of Clonmel. Over the past 40 or 50 years, Clonmel has been very fortunate in having significant foreign direct investment for its size, particularly Merck Sharp and Dohme, which came 50 years ago. It now has Abbott, Boston Scientific and many more. They employ thousands of people in Tipperary and surrounding areas. It is important that we protect these well-paid and good jobs. I welcome many of the measures announced by the Minister for enterprise in the budget to protect jobs and companies, particularly investment in research and development to attract those companies to remain in Ireland regardless of changes made in America.

When we talk about tariffs and decisions made in America, we cannot forget that this has a direct impact on people in our own individual counties. That is why the conversations the European Commission is having on behalf of us and all countries in the European Union are critical to ensure that some sort of consistency or some sort of comfort and clarity can remain.