Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

30. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide his Department’s priorities presented at the recent eighth round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. [5846/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The 8^thround of the TTIP negotiations between the European Commission and the US Trade Representative took place in Brussels last week from the 2^nd– 6^thFebruary. The Commission reported solid progress in all 3 areas of the negotiations; Market Access, Regulatory Cooperation and the Rules, which includes trade facilitation, intellectual property, sustainable development, labour, the environment and SMEs. Our priorities in these negotiations include advances in regulatory cooperation and common rules which aim to make trade and exporting easier especially for SMEs. Ireland supports the Commission in these negotiations which aim to achieve an ambitious and comprehensive agreement contributing to growth and jobs in Ireland and the EU.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

31. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will report on progress on negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; his views of reported opposition to the investment state dispute settlement mechanism from the French and German Governments (details supplied) and the results of the European Commission's public consultation on TTIP in which the majority of the near 150,000 submissions expressed opposition to TTIP and the investment state dispute settlement mechanism.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2664/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The purpose of the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is to reduce barriers to trade and investment in order to generate jobs and growth. According to assessments made by the European Commission and other European bodies, a comprehensive TTIP could over time boost the EU's GDP by 0.5% per annum, resulting in 400,000 additional jobs across the EU. Ireland has particularly strong economic links with the US, with over 118,000 people employed in 585 US companies here. The total level of trade (imports and exports) between Ireland and the US in 2012 was €55 billion. The US is Ireland biggest merchandise export market. The most recent data from the CSO shows that Ireland’s services exports to the US increased by 40% in 2012. Notwithstanding the present high level of trade enormous benefits could be derived from a comprehensive and ambitious TTIP.

My Department has commissioned a study on the potential impact of the TTIP for Ireland. This study is intended to assist in guiding the Irish position in the negotiations.

The initial findings by Copenhagen Economics show that the benefit to Ireland would be more than double the EU average, with 1.1% added to GDP. Other preliminary findings include increased exports (2.7%), increases in real wages (1.4%) and investment (1.6%). Opportunities are expected mainly in manufacturing, pharmaceutical and chemical industry, electrical machinery and other advanced machinery; services – insurance and ICT and Agriculture and processed foods.

A total of eight rounds of negotiations in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have taken place to date, the most recent being held in Brussels last week (2^nd– 6^thFebruary). ISDS or investment protection was not discussed.

During the 8^thround the negotiating teams spend one day meeting and hearing from over 400 civil society representatives from business and industry, professional associations, consumer bodies, environmental groups and the labour movement.

On 7 January, 2015, the EU Commission published a number of documents, all of which can be found at .

Included in the published documents are the EU’s proposals for legal text in the TTIP that have been tabled for discussion with the US. The areas covered by the texts published are competition, food safety and animal and plant health, customs issues, technical barriers to trade, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), government-to-government dispute settlement and regulatory cooperation. The EU Commission also published EU position papers explaining the EU's approach in the areas of engineering, vehicles, and sustainable development.

In relation to ISDS the EU Commission published its report on the results of the public consultation on investor protection on 13 January, 2015. The report, along with explanatory material, can be found at .

The Commission has indicated that, based on the comments received, there are a number of areas that appear to be particularly important to respondents, which represent four areas of work that should be explored further. These are: the protection of the right to regulate; the establishment and functioning of arbitral tribunals; the relationship between domestic judicial systems and Investor to State Dispute Settlement (ISDS); and the review of ISDS decisions for legal correctness through an appellate mechanism.

In response to the public consultation and the views of Member States the EU Commission has stated that, in the first quarter of 2015, it will be discussing the report with Member States and with the European Parliament, as well as with different stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, business, trade unions, consumer and environment organisations. The Commission has indicated that, following these discussions, it will develop specific proposals for the TTIP negotiations, which I expect will, in due course, be considered by the EU Council of Ministers. I very much welcome this approach, as I believe that it is important to take time to have open and constructive discussion to help inform next steps. Like other Member States Ireland could only support an ISDS mechanism that is fair, transparent and efficient.

At this stage, there are no negotiations taking place with the United States on investment protection or ISDS.