Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Dec 1990

Vol. 403 No. 8

Written Answers. - Customs Clearance Agents.

Dermot Ahern

Question:

72 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Finance if in his negotiations with the Minister for Finance of the EC and with the EC Commission he has requested consideration of the question of compensation for customs clearance agents who, with the advent of 1992, are in danger of going out of business with consequent job losses in Border areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Finance (Mr. A. Reynolds)

While recognising the advantages of the completion of the internal market, notably in the general improvement in access and reduction in costs to Irish firms exporting goods and services to the rest of Europe, the Irish Government have always been conscious of the associated threats to the Irish economy, amongst which will be the loss of jobs in work related to the preparation and processing of customs documentation for intra-Community trade.

The concerns of the Irish Government were paramount in their negotiations with the EC on Structural Fund support under the Community Support Framework for Ireland. The programmes supported under the CSF are in general geared to preparing for Ireland's entry into the Single Market as well as furthering the general aim of improving economic and social cohesion within Europe.

The EC has no special arrangements to compensate directly individual customs clearance agents for loss of livelihood resulting from the abolition of internal frontiers.

There are, co-funded by the EC under the CSF, a broad range of training and retraining courses, as well as advice and grant support schemes available to individuals and firms wishing to diversify into new areas of business or to set up in business for themselves. Customs clearance agents and others threatened by the Single Market may avail of the opportunities through the national agencies responsible for these schemes, FÁS for training and the IDA for business development.

As regards support for the Border areas of Ireland, a joint programme under the EC INTERREG initiative is currently being drawn up by the Department of Finance in collaboration with their counterparts in Belfast for submission to the European Commission early next year. It will cover the years 1991 to 1993 and will contain measures to assist in overcoming the special development problems arising from their relative isolation both within Ireland and within the Community as a whole, in the interests of the local population in the Border area.

Finally, this programme is intended to prepare for and mitigate problems associated with the advent of the Single Market.