Vol. 529 No. 4
112 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of countries with which Ireland has shown the greatest increase in trade in the past 12 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3216/01]
The country with which Ireland has shown the greatest increase in merchandise trade in the period January to September 2000, the period for which the most up to date trade statistics from the Central Statistics Office are available, is the United States of America. Trade with the United States amounted to nearly £14.6 billion in January to September 2000, an increase of £4.2 billion on the same period in 1999. Other countries showing a very substantial increase in the level of trade include the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, France, Italy, Belgium/Luxembourg and the Netherlands with increases of £3.3 billion, £796 million, £739 million, £726 million, £694 million, £567 million and £524 million respectively.
