In 1994 my Department wrote to the European Commission listing 12 cases where Irish exporters had claimed they were facing barriers to trade in certain EU markets. The cases were subsequently discussed with the Commission and member states in the context of the internal market advisory committee where it emerged that more detailed information would be required to enable follow-up action to be taken by the Commission on such cases.
I subsequently encouraged IBEC to carry out a survey on barriers to trade faced by Irish exporters in EU markets. The survey, which was presented to me in May 1995, found that one-third of respondent exporters had experienced difficulties in gaining access to other EU markets. IBEC was subsequently requested to further analyse the survey results to ascertain the nature of the problems concerned to enable my Department to pursue these problems with the EU Commission and other member states concerned.
In late November 1995 IBEC confirmed that almost all cases of difficulties reported by Irish exporters had been successfully resolved. Efforts were still being made to settle the small number of unresolved cases and, if these proved unsuccessful, the assistance of my Department would be sought. Because of the progress made through other channels, the need for further representations to the EU Commission and other member states regarding difficulties experienced by Irish exporters in EU markets has not arisen to date.
