Taoiseach's Meetings and Engagements
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank all the Deputies for raising these issues. This was the first time ever Ireland was invited to be a participant at the G20. It is interesting some people questioned whether I should attend. We have a strong pro-development agenda in Ireland through our development aid programme across different Departments but mainly delivered through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and through Irish Aid. Within that is a strong financial provision and policy around women and girls in conflict and domestic abuse. Margaret Lotus is in the Gallery and I appreciate her bravery and courage in coming forward to tell her story, so we can continue to improve our legislation and the transparency of our agencies, Garda, Defence Forces and so forth.
Deputy Ó Cearúil referred to diversification of trade. There is a need for global engagement. We need to engage on a global level with as many countries as possible. The world has dramatically changed since the time of apartheid in South Africa and is a much more interdependent world today than it was back then.
I had some very good meetings with Cyril Ramaphosa. I met him on quite a number of occasions. He remembers fondly the time he spent in Ireland helping to decommission weapons. He has the odd humorous anecdote about where he had to go to find some of those weapons and verify their destruction and decommissioning. What was interesting in the declaration was that he skilfully got an outcome, notwithstanding the fact the US was not formally represented but it was at the negotiations in some respects. Other countries were as well.
On the trade issue, the EU-India trade agreement is positive. I have to go through the details of it. If you take the Europe-Canada trade agreement, Irish trade has exponentially grown as a result of that Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA. There is a lot of opposition in the House to it, which I find hard to comprehend. Many Irish small and medium-size companies have done well through exporting goods and services. Many of our multinationals do well also, which improves Irish jobs.
India is an important market. It is enormous. This is a historic agreement and it counteracts the push towards protectionism and a tariff-based approach the US has initiated through its policies. Europe is endeavouring to create a counter approach which involves doing trade deals with others and easing trade between different blocs and markets across the world. It is interesting that Canada is pivoting more to Europe as a result of that changed global position in terms of trade.
On my visit to China, not only did we get the beef market reopened but it was interesting the Chinese leadership said it acknowledged the interdependence of the world and wanted smoother trading relationships with Europe. There are issues on both sides there: industrial resilience, strategic autonomy and so forth. This is a significant agreement the Commission has arrived at with India. I will get further clarity on the precise mechanisms for agreement on that. There are various mechanisms through which trade deals or aspects of trade deals can be ratified. CETA, for example, was a provisional agreement. We have yet to ratify it but are bringing legislation to the House to do so. Notwithstanding that fact, it has entered provisionally and we have had tremendous growth.
A very good document was commissioned by our embassy on the impact of CETA on Ireland and Canada's trade. Our embassy has produced that and it is a very good snapshot of the dramatic improvements. I envisage something similar in India. In the early 2000s, we took a trade mission to India to try to create a significant base for the first time. There were about five Ministers and the then Taoiseach. The idea was to open up India. We did similar with China and look what has happened. The trade has exponentially grown both ways and we have a surplus with China. Likewise, there is lots of potential in Europe-India and the impact on Ireland.
Deputy Ó Murchú skilfully wove the G20 and County Louth together in respect of adaptation and mitigation measures.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27