There is quite an amount of misinformation circulating at present about the impacts of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on the European Union and Ireland in particular. My colleague and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, is the lead Irish Minister on international trade negotiations but I would like to set the record straight about some of the aspects related to agriculture.
One of these relates to the EU ban on the use of hormones in meat production. In this regard, I have received repeated assurances from the EU Commission that the EU ban on the import of hormone treated meat will not change. This is a red line for me and, I know from my recent discussions with US Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, that it is well understood by the United States.
As to the wider issue of food standards, the key issue for me is that the principle of equivalence will continue to apply so that even where production processes in the EU and US are not identical they will provide equivalent guarantees regarding the standards of production. This principle is already enshrined under the World Trade Organisation Agreement and I am pleased to report that it is recognised by both sides in the EU US negotiations as the basis for the TTIP agreement. Equally it is important that both the EU and United States retain the policy space to restrict certain practices and processes on social and ethical grounds. This is the case for genetically modified products where the EU applies a positive but precautionary principle that requires formal approval of such products based on a favourable opinion from the European Food Safety Authority.
Finally, regarding your request for regular reports to this House on the progress of these negotiations, I already provide updates on a regular basis to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and will continue to do so.
