Vol. 446 No. 1
100 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he intends to take any action to deal with some of the serious difficulties for labour intensive industries, particularly sectors employing a high percentage of young people, in the context of the completion of the GATT Agreement and general difficulties being experienced in the textile industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1705/94]
The GATT Uruguay Round Agreement is the biggest trade agreement ever concluded in the history of world trade. It will create confidence and buoyancy in the world economy and lead to significant opportunities for investment and development of exports.
The Irish manufacturing and traded services sectors will gain substantially in terms of output and employment from the increasingly liberalised international trading system arising from the Agreement. A consultancy study commissioned by the Department of Tourism and Trade concluded that the Irish economy stood to directly gain in excess of 20,000 jobs from a GATT Agreement.
Some sectors such as clothing and textiles, may experience difficulties but I would point out that during the negotiations particular attention was paid to the sensitivity of these sectors for Ireland. The objective was to ensure that the Multi-Fibre Arrangements (MFA) would be gradually integrated into GATT and that this would be linked to a strengthening of GATT rules and disciplines. This has been largely achieved. A ten year transition period has been agreed and this will allow the clothing and textile sectors time to restructure and re-position in order to concentrate on the higher quality segment of the market.
