Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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211. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of the implementation and impacts of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6479/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Since its entry into force at the beginning of 2021, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) has provided a strong framework for continued trade and cooperation with Great Britain. The TCA builds upon the previous Withdrawal Agreement, including the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, in setting out the architecture of the EU-UK relationship.

Effective implementation of the TCA is a priority for Ireland. Not only does it underpin our trade and business relationship with Great Britain, but it also provides for cooperation in a wide range of areas of significance to us. It also creates a platform for building further cooperation into the future.

While no agreement could have replaced the seamless relationship with the UK enjoyed prior to Brexit, the TCA provides for tariff- and quota-free goods trade between the EU and Great Britain as well as preferential arrangements in areas such as transport, energy, fisheries, and policing. The agreement is underpinned by extensive governance structures as well as provisions to ensure a continued level playing field and processes for resolving any disputes that might arise.

The EU and the UK have been meeting regularly through the TCA’s governance structures over the past year, including at highest level, in the EU-UK Partnership Council. All of the Specialised Committees, the forums for EU-UK engagement across each of the areas covered by the agreement, have now met at least once, and initial discussions have largely been productive. Each of these Committees shall meet at least once a year, as set out in the TCA. A number of the Specialised Committees, such as energy, are expected to meet for the second time in the coming months. Ireland has actively contributed to the preparation of the EU side’s position for those meetings and we continue to work very closely, with the European Commission, on the overall implementation of the agreement.

The TCA also establishes an EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, providing for the participation of political representatives. The EU has set up a Domestic Advisory Group and is in the process of creating a Civil Society Forum, both of which provide a platform for NGOs, business, trade unions and other groups to advise and share their views on the implementation of the Agreement.