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Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 June 2018

Tuesday, 19 June 2018

Ceisteanna (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Micheál Martin

Ceist:

3. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon of South Korea and the issues that were discussed. [25354/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Joan Burton

Ceist:

4. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his recent conversation with the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Justin Trudeau. [25360/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Joan Burton

Ceist:

5. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea. [25362/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

6. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his engagement with the Prime Minister of South Korea, Mr. Lee Nak-yeon on 29 May 2018. [25769/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

7. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his conversation with the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Justin Trudeau, on 26 May 2018. [26446/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

8. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea. [26544/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí ó Béal (20 píosaí cainte)

My apologies for the delay. I live in a world of treasury tags and paper clips at the moment.

The Taoiseach should go digital.

Yes, it would be much easier to find replies.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 8, inclusive, together.

On Monday, 28 May, I met the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lee Nak-yeon, in Government Buildings. This was the first visit by a South Korean Prime Minister to Ireland since 1990, and an opportunity to discuss strengthening bilateral relations between our two countries and a number of developments at European Union and international level. We discussed the strong growth in trade between Ireland and South Korea in recent years, which has been enabled by the European Union-South Korea international trade agreement. We also discussed progress in reopening access to the Korean market for Irish beef. I look forward to further progress on this issue during the coming months.

The Prime Minister and I also discussed increased co-operation in the area of education and research and we noted the increasing number of Korean students in Ireland. We discussed the latest developments on the Korean Peninsula. I reiterated Ireland's support for the Korean Government's continuing efforts to build peace and achieve denuclearisation of the peninsula. The meeting was an excellent opportunity to progress our bilateral relations, which I expect will continue to strengthen in the months and years ahead.

I spoke by telephone with Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Justin Trudeau, on 26 May. He called me to convey his congratulations on the outcome of the referendum on the regulation of termination of pregnancy, which he described as a significant milestone for women's rights.

In the context of the Taoiseach's meeting with the South Korean Prime Minister, businesses and workers throughout the country have been looking on with growing concern at the chaos that appears to be about to hit global trade. The wild and indiscriminate attacks being directed at America's trading partners pose a direct threat to our economy. This point has been made repeatedly by independent commentators. Did the South Korean Prime Minister and the Taoiseach discussed that issue?

Clearly, the European Union must respond when unilateral and unfair trade sanctions are imposed on European businesses. The European Commission's response thus far has been measured and restrained. No one here is naive enough to believe that Ireland on its own has any chance of influencing events. However, we must be on top of the issues and assist sectors which are disproportionately hit. What action has the Taoiseach taken to assess the specific impact on Ireland of President Trump's unilateral actions on trade?

Has anybody in the Taoiseach's Department or across Government undertaken any analysis of the impact of President Trump's decisions to date in terms of tariffs on specific trade, if it involves the sectors that are most likely to be hit and undermined and has the Taoiseach prepared any measures to assist sectors which will suffer short and medium term damage?

In terms of the Taoiseach's international contacts with people like the Prime Minister of Canada and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, has he had an opportunity to get some advice or seek some experience from what they as countries have learned in terms of addressing issues like the housing crisis and the crisis and difficulties in the HSE? In particular, I would like to know if they have discussed how countries invest for the future. The Taoiseach and his Cabinet have produced a 22-year capital programme which is unusually long. On paper there are a great deal of proposals by the Government but in practice that plan will probably extend over the period of three to five Governments and in the meantime our housing crisis, particularly in social and affordable housing, is getting worse. It seems that part of the problem with this Fine Gael Government is that it has, at a minimum, a delicate apprehension which is negative on social and affordable housing as though somehow or other people might get a greater sense of entitlement than the Taoiseach's party would traditionally see people who rely on social housing as having. Has the Taoiseach taken the opportunity to share experiences with countries like Canada, a country of major immigration, which has had big house building successes in its different provinces, but also with the Republic of Korea, which has a significant public investment record so that just as we often advertise Ireland for what we have done well, we might gain some knowledge from them as to how they have addressed those problems in housing and health which are currently besetting the Government?

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Taoiseach as ucht a chuid freagraí. The press release which followed the Taoiseach's conversation with Prime Minister Trudeau said that they discussed the recent referendum to repeal the eighth amendment. He has referred to it in his answer. I know this had been an item of discussion between them when they met last year so he might give us some more detail as to Mr. Trudeau's reaction. I know that he expressed congratulations and that was welcome. I also note that the British Prime Minister tweeted her congratulations to the Irish people on their decision, Together for Yes and the successful campaign, which is extremely welcome. It would of course be more welcome if she could take the issue up with the DUP who continue to bury their heads in the sand on this. I will see Mrs. May tomorrow and I will raise it with her directly myself.

With regard to the Taoiseach's meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea, was the recent deal between the United States and North Korea discussed? Moves towards peace and stability in the region are obviously very welcome. However, there appears to be a valid concern in South Korea about their omission from the process and I wonder if that was raised in their discussions.

The Taoiseach may have noted that Prime Minister Trudeau's Canada has today decriminalised cannabis and that follows the fact that in Canada, cannabis for medicinal use was previously decriminalised. In light of the Taoiseach's great admiration for Canada and all things Canadian, might that prompt him to stop trying to sabotage Deputy Gino Kenny's medicinal cannabis Bill which is being buried by his Government in what I think is cynical game playing with completely inaccurate references to it being poor legislation-----

It is not really relevant to the question-----

It is relevant to the discussions that were had with Prime Minister Trudeau and whether we might learn something from Canada in its attitude towards the issue of cannabis and specifically medicinal cannabis given that there are thousands of people out there suffering from pain and other conditions who could benefit from it. His Government has cynically tried to bury that Bill rather than progress it and accept the amendments that Deputy Gino Kenny has proposed to deal with some of the so-called concerns that have been raised.

As we have heard, the Taoiseach spoke on the phone to the Canadian Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau, in the aftermath of the Irish referendum. Since the phonecall, the G7 meeting descended into total acrimony with extraordinary things being said by the American President about the Canadian Prime Minister and the American administration has subsequently begun to impose tariffs on global trade and products coming out of Canada and other allies on the extraordinary pretext that it was being done on the basis of security. I ask if there has been any analysis done on the likely impacts of the tariffs imposed to date or the likely escalation of a trade war on Ireland, an open trading economy which is vulnerable to the closing down of markets and imposition of tariffs. Are there any contingency plans? The Taoiseach might indicate to us what exactly the Irish Government's submission to the European Commission is on the proper and appropriate response to be made by it to such tariffs being imposed.

The meeting with the Prime Minister of South Korea was a good meeting. We now have an EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement in place which has been very successful and has helped us to increase trade between the two countries. The Republic of Korea is now the ninth largest trading country in the world and offers considerable opportunities for Ireland, particularly in the context of the free trade agreement. Bilateral trade between Ireland and the Republic of Korea doubled between 2013 and 2016 to reach a value of €2.6 billion per annum. There have been regular visits to the Republic of Korea to promote Ireland as a trading partner and a location for investment in the EU. When I spoke with the Prime Minister I strongly encouraged him to increase the number of ministerial visits that happen in both directions. It is always on the St. Patrick's Day itinerary for us outbound but we do not get as many inbound Ministers from the Republic of Korea as we would like and hopefully that will increase into the future. The EU-North Korea summit which happened in Singapore was not discussed because it had not happened at that stage.

On the trade issues between the EU and the US, it is disappointing that the US has ended the temporary exemption on new steel and aluminium tariffs which had been granted to the EU. The measures cannot be justified on the grounds of national security in our view and they are an inappropriate remedy for real problems of overcapacity on which the EU has offered the US its full co-operation in multiple fora, including the OECD, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. We will continue to support the Commission in its determination to protect fully EU commercial interests, including through World Trade Organisation, WTO, legal proceedings and appropriate rebalancing measures. This issue is before the European Council, which will meet next week. It was discussed in March and I expect it to be considered again when we meet later this month. In March, the European Council restated its commitment to strong transatlantic relations as a cornerstone of peace and prosperity and underlined its support for a dialogue on trade issues of common concern. The view of the Irish Government is that we would prefer to avoid the imposition of tit-for-tat trade restrictions on tariffs between the EU and the US. Those that have been imposed to date will have a relatively limited impact on Ireland but were it to spread to other goods and services it certainly could impact Ireland. The particular concern we have is for the potential impact on Aughinish Alumina. My Department, with the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Industrial Development Authority, IDA, are engaging intensively on this. I have spoken with the CEO of Aughinish personally and made it clear that the Government will do everything possible to assist it. Similarly, the IDA has been liaising closely with the firm's senior management since details of the sanctions first emerged.

The matter is also being raised through diplomatic channels and with our international partners. As has been widely reported efforts are under way on the part of the parent companies to restructure their respective ownerships. If this proves successful and the US authorities expressly agree it could result in the sanctions against the companies in question being lifted meaning that Aughinish may no longer be impacted. That would be very welcome given its value to the area in terms of employment. There is no guarantee, however, that this will happen and that is why the Government will continue to engage very closely with Aughinish and provide any support or assistance we can.

In response to Deputy Burton's question on my engagement with other Heads of Government and whether we compare notes on domestic problems, yes absolutely, I always take the opportunity, if there is time, when I meet another Head of Government to talk about some of the domestic challenges we have, whether around health or housing and ask about their domestic challenges and compare notes. For example, most recently when I met the new Prime Minister of Spain I learnt that Spain's health service does not have access issues as severe as ours yet it spends much less on health than we do. I was trying to explore with him what Spain had got right that it spends considerably less per head on health care than we do but does not have the kind of access issues, long waiting times and so on, that we have. We agreed that there should be an exchange involving Spain's department of health and ours on that. He looked for something in return from me because Spain has a problem with structural long-term unemployment. It has very high youth unemployment rates, with 20% long-term unemployment, or something close to that figure, whereas it is approximately 3% in Ireland. I spoke about how that had been the case in Ireland for decades and how we had resolved that and we agreed that there would be an exchange between our Departments of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Spain's on that issue.

I often find, which is interesting and mildly reassuring but not very that when we do speak to other Heads of Government and Prime Ministers about the domestic problems we face it is very often the case that they face the same domestic problems, to a greater or lesser extent. It would not be unusual in other member states or other countries for the same kinds of problems we have in the health sector to be problems there as well, perhaps not on the same scale but certainly issues such as recruiting staff, waiting times and increasing overcrowding in emergency departments are problems in other countries, even in France. It can often be the case with housing shortages as well.

The capital programme is not a 22-year programme, it is a ten-year programme. The national planning framework runs for 22 years, between now and 2040. The capital programme runs for ten years, that is €116 billion to be invested in public infrastructure, in housing and transport, broadband, new health care facilities and new schools. It will not take ten years to start. It has already started. Investment in public infrastructure is up by 18% this year alone. It will increase by another 25% next year, that is an additional €1.5 billion. We are getting this programme done and it is very much under way. The ten year national development plan provides for us to grow our social housing stock by 110,000 units over the next ten years. We grew the social housing stock, by different mechanisms, by 7,000 last year. It will be similar or more this year and will go up to 10,000 a year and more after that, adding to the social housing stock by 110,000. That is a considerable------

The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has revised that to 14,000 over two years.

No. Those ESRI projections do not relate to social housing. They relate to total house builds.

It says 14,000 over two years.

The Deputy is mistaken about the content of both the capital plan and the ESRI report, unfortunately.

I thank the Taoiseach. We are moving on to Question No. 9.

Deputy Boyd Barrett did not get an answer to his question on cannabis.

No answer to the question on cannabis is par for the course.

If the Deputy put down a question on it that would help. I do not think cannabis was the question.

I asked the Taoiseach if he talked to Prime Minister Trudeau about it.

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