The big focus we have now is on the EU-Israel association agreement.

Intervention at the European Union level has far greater influence, if we can get an EU response of this kind.

Does this relate to the forthcoming EU pharmacy regulations?

The fundamental position of Government is in respect of supporting IP and the proper exploitation of intellectual property. We make no apologies for that and I never have. As far as I am concerned, we need to have consistent research in medicine and to facilitate, reward and incentivise investment in medicine. Otherwise, we will reduce the number of companies investing in such critical research. The industry in the European Union has, arguably, declined relative to the US and others because of a failure of investme…

It is always a balance between the price issue and ensuring we have enough and a significant pipeline of medicines that dramatically change disease and improve treatments for disease. The vaccine is the most recent example of it.

There is a commitment in the programme for Government in relation to municipal authorities in towns over a certain population threshold. I had good time for Brendan Howlin, formerly of this House, on many issues, but he led the charge on this matter and subsequently sort of had regrets. From a democracy perspective, I believe local town councils and town commissioners were important. Very often, they were the first step on the ladder to political participation and representation. I happen, therefore, to believe in …

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 10, inclusive, together. As part of my St. Patrick’s Day programme in the United States, I visited Austin and Washington DC. My programme in Washington included political, community and economic events. I was hosted at breakfast by the vice president and second lady and had a bilateral meeting with President Trump in the aftermath to celebrate the historic relationship between Ireland and the United States. I also participated in the ceremony and reception at which a bowl of sh…

In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, at the time of the visit in March, the primary objective of the Government and myself was to protect the Irish economy and jobs in respect of any tariff impositions on European Union goods, in particular Irish goods, from whatever sector. Therefore, we used the opportunity to emphasise the very substantial investment by Irish companies in the United States. We mentioned the substantial positioning of Irish companies in the US and the huge investment flows from Ireland, as well as rec…

We are not going to change a whole lot on our own, to be brutally honest about it.

Within the European Union, we can change. We were effective on UNRWA, for example. When there was a big move on to take funding away from UNRWA, we intervened, doubled down and increased our funding significantly. We said at the Foreign Affairs Council that other countries should not go along with the herd and withdraw their funding. There have been changes in the response of the European Union to the funding of UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority. The European Union remains the biggest donor in the world to the Pa…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 21, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on the economy, trade and competitiveness last met yesterday and is scheduled to next meet on 14 July. Membership of the committee comprises: the Taoiseach; the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and for Defence; the Minister for Finance; the Minister for public expenditure and infrastructure; the Minister for climate, environment and energy, and for Transport; the Minister for agriculture, food, fisheries and th…

I thank all the Deputies for raising a range of issues. I think it began with Deputy Ó Murchú. Am I correct? Was it Deputy Bacik? I apologise.

The CETA trade deal was raised by a number of Deputies. I support what Deputy Malcolm Byrne articulated and am opposed to what Deputy Paul Murphy articulated. CETA is in provisional operation as we speak. The figures are interesting for the growth in trade between Ireland and Canada and particularly for Irish exports to Canada, which have gone up something like 460% - I can check it - which is phenomenal. There is also a significant multinational presence of Canadian companies in Ireland and Irish companies are bas…

-----on trade deals of this kind when the European Union negotiates on behalf of European member states. They have a significant impact on a small open economy such as Ireland, which needs access to markets all over the world. It is that simple.

The Supreme Court did not bury it. It actually indicated the remedy, the avenue to facilitating the legislation for the CETA trade deal, which Deputy Bacik referenced - the Arbitration Act. It was approved today by the Cabinet and will go forward for legislation. The occupied territories Bill was also approved today. The Minister brought it to the Cabinet and it will go to the Dáil and the Oireachtas select committee. On the other issues that were raised and housing in particular, the market is broken at the moment…

-----and putting us into straitjackets that would reduce supply. On the councils,-----

-----we will engage with the county councils. The Minister engages with all county councils in this respect. We will engage with Fingal County Council, which the Deputy mentioned, and have done so. The previous Minister did as well, with a lot of good developments. There is a memo coming to the Government, as I said to Deputy Geoghegan on the last occasion - I think he raised it last week - which has not arrived yet. However, as soon as it does, we will bring it to the Government and publish it. The NDP is being wo…

My apologies. There has been extensive engagement with companies. I have been in touch with many of the CEOs of major pharmaceutical, technology and medtech companies. The Tánaiste has been involved and has convened a trade forum. We are involved with Irish companies and multinationals based in Ireland at all levels - diplomatically, politically and business to business - while also trying to ascertain how people at a corporate level in America see this in the context of their interactions with the US Administratio…

I do not anticipate that we will hold the referendum in that regard on the same day as the presidential election. I am a great believer that we should have separate referendums on separate issues. The Deputy has been very consistent and persistent on this matter. He is correct that for an innovative economy, we should do it. However, we need to prepare properly for when we decide to have a referendum. We have to do the homework and be in a position to convince people of the merits of the case. We should not spring …

I am sorry, Deputy O'Connor. We need to push the caution button. Solar is at approximately 3%. It is growing. Fossil fuel is not sustainable either. We need a balance. We have done well in the context of onshore wind. We have a journey to go on offshore wind, and solar will play a part in that mix. I was in Texas prior to going to Washington, which is the subject matter of all these questions. We think of Texas as a fossil fuel area. It is going to go big on solar, nuclear, wind and battery storage. There will be a…