Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 6 September 2019
768. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the studies or reports being carried out by her Department or commissioned by her regarding trade deals;the organisation commissioned for each such report; and the cost and publication date in tabular form. [36869/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department, through an open tender process, commissioned Copenhagen Economics to undertake a report on the combined impacts of a portfolio of recently concluded and prospective EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) for Ireland. The aim of the report is to identify the opportunities and challenges for Ireland from FTAs and to develop recommendations to maximise gains and mitigate the challenges that can arise. The primary research for the report has been completed with preliminary findings and results subject to further review by the authors.
In light of the political agreement reached and announced by the Commission on 28 June last of an EU-Mercosur Agreement, the Government committed to full economic and environmental sustainability assessments on the EU-Mercosur deal on the basis of the more detailed information which was now available. This element will be commissioned shortly by my Department in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine but it is too early to provide an outline of the timeframe or the resource requirements until the definitive terms of reference for the two studies are agreed. Therefore, the current position on FTA studies, as requested by the Deputy, is set out in the following table:
|
Study or Report (trade deals) |
Organisation Commissioned |
Cost |
Publication Date |
|
Report on the impacts of EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on Ireland |
Copenhagen Economics (CE) |
€261,000 |
Report work ongoing, publication date not yet agreed |
|
Economic and Environmental Sustainability assessments of the EU-Mercosur deal |
To be commissioned shortly |
Not yet determined |
It is too early to provide an estimate of the timeframe |
