Trade Agreements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 October 2014

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Questions (76)

Mick Wallace

Question:

76. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 227 of 30 September 2014, where he references documents on the EU Commission’s website that have been tabled by the EU in the TiSA negotiations, stating that they clearly exclude public services from the remit of the talks, his understanding of the TiSA definition of public services; and if his response should be corrected in the context of information (details supplied). [38406/14]

Written answers

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

The information in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 227 of 30 September 2014 contains a link which explains the draft legal text tabled by the EU. This includes a clear explanation as to how public services are protected.

In the TiSA talks, each country is free to choose the services or activities it wants to allow foreign companies to provide. These choices are known as 'commitments'.

The EU always excludes from its commitments:

- publicly-funded health and social services

- publicly-funded education

- water collection, purification, distribution and management services

- film, TV and other audiovisual services.

The EU has also excluded these services from TiSA, as it has in all its other trade agreements.

Question No. 77 answered with Question No. 73.