Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 147: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the Government's response to the collapse in the World Trade Talks in July 2008; her views on having the talks re-opened; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30933/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Government policy on the Doha Development Round of trade talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is to secure a comprehensive, ambitious and balanced trade agreement. Such an outcome would have been an important fillip to the world economy. It would have delivered tangible gains to Irish exporters, consumers and of course developing countries, especially the least developed countries. This latter point is important because the Doha Round was launched as a development round to provide better economic and trade opportunities for developing countries. Consequently, it is a disappointment that the Ministerial meeting at the WTO last July did not manage to agree the main elements of an agreement, and so pave the way to a final wide ranging trade consensus.

The scope of the negotiations is very wide and covers many areas where Ireland would benefit, for example, in the reduction of tariffs for our manufacturing exports and the removal of barriers for our service providers who trade internationally. In that regard, there were some positive signs at the Geneva Ministerial Meeting. Although the main focus of the Ministerial meeting was to agree a framework for reducing tariffs and domestic support in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA), it was emerging that the package under discussion could be worth in excess of half a billion euro to Irish exporters of goods and services, to consumers in terms of lower import tariffs and from broader economic benefits. These possible opportunities have to be set against an agreement that would also pose some very serious challenges for us, most notably in regarding proposals on agriculture. Whenever a final outcome to the negotiations is to be assessed the extent of these challenges will be an essential feature in our consideration.

It is difficult to predict what may happen now in the negotiations. Talks are continuing at senior official level in Geneva to see if there is a possibility to move closer to agreement sooner rather than later. However, there are many complex issues still to be ironed out before any package can be presented to Ministers and it seems unlikely that this stage can be achieved in the short term.

The Government remains committed to a balanced outcome to this WTO trade round and we will continue to firmly press our concerns in every Doha related forum. The importance of these, particularly concerning our agriculture sector, will continue to be at the forefront of our negotiating position whenever the talks recommence in a more substantive manner.