Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the latest Mercosur trade talks; and her plans to ensure that Irish farmers are protected and that beef does not form part of the final deal. [49834/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The next round of talks in the EU - Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is scheduled to take place on the 29th November to 5th December in Brussels and a final round of high-level talks is expected to take place the week beginning 6th December. Negotiations are led by the EU Commission on behalf of Member States.

An EU-Mercosur FTA would be the EU’s largest trade deal to date, and is four times the size of the trade agreement with Japan. It aims to eliminate trade tariffs between the EU and the Mercosur region.  Irish exporters are currently subject to trade tariffs, barriers and restrictions, when exporting to Mercosur, while imports from Mercosur, particularly in Agriculture, are currently subject to high tariffs. The proposed FTA should make exports from Ireland more attractive and potentially increase demand for Irish products.

Within the region, Brazil is Ireland’s main trading partner with total exports from Ireland of €715 million and total imports of €634 million in 2014.  Brazil has been highlighted as a ‘High Growth Market’ in the Enterprise Ireland Plan 2016, with Enterprise Ireland client’s companies’ exports value increasing by 84% from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, Ireland exported in excess of €950 million to Mercosur countries, with services representing approximately 60% of the total exports and Chemicals accounting for 49% of Irish exports to Mercosur. 132 Enterprise Ireland client companies exported to Mercosur in 2014.  Year on year growth of exports to the region from 2013-2014 increased by 25%.

On the other hand, Ireland has strong concerns in relation to agriculture, especially the impact that these negotiations present to the EU beef sector. While all Free Trade Agreements include agriculture tariffs, agricultural market access and TRQs (Tariff Rate Quotas), TRQs provided under such agreements are not always fully utilised by our trading partners. Equally, most Member States tend to have sensitives in relation to certain goods or services to be comprehended under an FTA.

Ireland has continued to highlight the cumulative impact of agricultural market access in relation to all trade agreements. We have done this through engagement with the Trade Policy Committee in Brussels, as well as joining with other Member States in formally writing to the Commission outlining our concerns.  Both I and my colleague Minister Creed have also raised the matter in various fora.

Overall, Ireland remains fully committed to this negotiation, especially in view of the important economic and political gains expected for both sides from a comprehensive, ambitious and balanced EU-Mercosur Association Agreement. However any TRQ offered must be structured - in terms of its size, composition and the application of in-quota tariff rates - in a way that mitigates the potential impact of a Mercosur deal on the EU beef sector.

As negotiations are ongoing, it remains unclear what the final outcome will be, although it must be acknowledged that for the Mercosur countries offers on EU agricultural produce are essential to securing any deal.