Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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271. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the ratification process she envisages for the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18988/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) is a new generation agreement that will remove over 99% of tariffs between the EU and Canada and will create sizeable new market access opportunities in services and investment. It will end limitations in access to public contracts, open-up services market, and offer predictable conditions for investors.

The main benefits for Ireland in this Agreement include the opening up of public procurement markets in the Canadian provinces giving Irish firms increased access to Canadian public sector purchasing. Ireland also gains unlimited tariff free access for most of our important food exports. In addition, Ireland successfully campaigned for a low beef import quota from Canada to the EU thereby safeguarding our important EU market in this area. Irish firms will also benefit from the recognition of product standards and certification, thus saving on ‘double testing’ on both sides of the Atlantic. This is of particular benefit to smaller companies for whom paying twice for the same test can be prohibitive. These are some of the benefits of the trade deal with Canada as well as providing new market opportunities in many sectors for Irish firms.

The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) EU-US agreement is still being negotiated. Like the CETA, it is intended that the EU-US Agreement will cover not only tariffs, services and investment but also include regulatory coherence and cooperation. An EU-US agreement would be the world’s largest bilateral trade and investment deal, and a successful conclusion is expected to benefit Ireland more than any other EU Member State. An independent study commissioned by my Department, carried out by Copenhagen Economics, suggests a boost to GDP of 1.1%, growth in Irish exports of almost 4%, increases in investment of 1.5%, and an increase in real wages of 1.5%. It estimates somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 additional export related jobs could be created. The findings are backed up in an interim independent report contracted by the EU Commission, carried out by Ecorys Consultancy and published on 13th May 2016. The report estimates that an EU-US free trade agreement would boost Irish GDP by 1.4 per cent.

CETA was discussed at the last EU Council of Trade Ministers on 13th May 2016, which I attended. The Council had an exchange of views on the Agreement and the process towards signature and provisional application. I made Ireland’s approach clear, that based on our current assessment of its provisions, that we viewed CETA as a mixed Agreement, in terms of EU and Member State competency. This position was also expressed by other Member States. There are differing views on the legal position on this and the European Commission may be of the view that CETA falls within the competence of the EU only. We will need to wait and see the formal proposal from the Commission and, importantly, the legal basis for this. It will be a matter for the European Council and the European Parliament to decide on the signature and provisional application of CETA. It is expected that the decision making process and ratification process of the EU-US FTA will be similar to the EU-Canada Agreement.

It is in Ireland’s interest to see strong progress towards the implementation of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement and conclusion of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership as they will provide opportunities for Irish based firms to further diversify their export markets. The issue of growing market share in other markets is made even more important by the result of the recent UK referendum on its membership of the EU.