Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Health if he has aware of the report of the Irish Cancer Society in respect of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; his views on the report; if his Department has brought any concerns in respect of the partnership to the attention of the European Commission, with respect to health matters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35473/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have received a copy of the report of the Irish Cancer Society in respect of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The EU’s mandate to negotiate the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) states that services supplied in the exercise of governmental authority as defined by Article I.3 of General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) shall be excluded from these negotiations. Both chief negotiators confirmed after the 7th Round of negotiations that no commitments will be taken on public services.

On the 20 March 2015, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and the US Trade Representative Michael Froman confirmed in a joint statement that trade agreements do not prevent governments from providing or supporting services in areas such as water, education, health, and social services. On the 8 July 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution which built on this statement to exclude current and future Services of General Interest as well as Services of General Economic Interest from the scope of application of TTIP. This includes but is not limited to water, health, social services, social security systems and education, to ensure that national authorities retain the right to introduce, adopt, maintain or repeal any measures with regards to the commissioning, organisation, funding and provision of public services as provided in the Treaties as well as in the EU's negotiating mandate. The resolution also stated that this exclusion should apply irrespective of how the services are provided and funded.

On the 16 September 2015, the European Commission published the text of its proposal for the Investment Chapter of TTIP. It will be presented as the EU text proposal in the EU-US trade talks following consultation with the Council and discussion with the European Parliament. The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) informs my Department that the proposal states that the right to regulate to achieve legitimate policy objectives such as the protection of public health is preserved; the proposal also clarifies that investment protection provisions shall not be interpreted as a commitment from governments not to change their legal framework, including in a manner that may negatively affect the investor’s expectations of profits.

DJEI leads on the negotiations for Ireland and liaises with the EU Commission as appropriate. DJEI commissioned Copenhagen Economics to prepare a report on TTIP and its impact in Ireland. This report is available on the Department's website.

As negotiations progress my Department continues to liaise with DJEI to consider potential impacts for the health sector.

I welcome the views of stakeholders in the interests of assessing the potential implications of TTIP for health.