Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 215: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the Government will allow a debate and vote in Dáil Éireann on the proposed EU services directive before it is agreed; and if not, when such a debate and vote will take place. [12468/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government would welcome a debate about the proposed directive, on which discussions are continuing in the Council working group and in the European Parliament. My Department gave a presentation on the draft directive to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business on 5 March, but the views of all Deputies on this important proposal would be particularly welcome.

My Department has been, and is, engaged in widespread and detailed consultation with other Departments and with interested parties to make an effective input to the discussions. Advertisements were placed in the media last year seeking written submissions from service users and producers who would potentially be affected by the directive. The Department also wrote to approximately 50 stakeholder organisations last year informing them of the existence of the draft directive and seeking their comments on it. We repeated the invitation late last year, when we informed the same organisations that the Department had dedicated a part of its website, at www.entemp.ie, to the draft directive. My Department has had discussions with the social partners about the draft directive and expects to have further discussions with them.

Ireland, together with all other member states of the EU, is very supportive of the objective of the proposed directive, which is to create a genuine Single Market in services throughout the EU. However, like all member states, we have concerns about many aspects of the current proposal, which is a long way from being adopted.

Services account, in the EU, for up to 70% of GNP and employment, and the creation of a genuine European Single Market would yield enormous benefits for the European — and Irish — services sectors. It would also be a big plus for consumers, in Ireland and throughout the European Union. It is clear that where competition and more suppliers are introduced into an economic sector, consumers benefit.