The Government will pursue new business opportunities in China, India, Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of a rapidly-assembled plan to deal with the economic fallout from the Trump tariffs.
The new plan to reduce the reliance of Irish trade on the United States and diversify to new markets (including within the EU) will come before Cabinet on Tuesday, along with a proposal for a competitiveness plan that could have implications for employee conditions.
The joint memo from Tánaiste Simon Harris and Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke sets out 15 immediate measures to improve competitiveness and open new market opportunities.
The most controversial of those will be a proposal to accelerate the drafting of legislation for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) between Canada and the EU.
In late 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that Ceta could not be ratified by the State on constitutional grounds, partly because Irish courts were powerless to have a role in responding to an award granted by a Ceta tribunal.
The Government’s legislation to remedy that will be brought to Cabinet by Mr Harris later this month, months earlier than expected. It will pave the way for Ceta to be ratified by Ireland during 2025. The Opposition, and members of the Green Party when in government, were strongly opposed to its ratification on grounds that Ceta compromised Ireland’s sovereignty.
Other urgent measures to address the still-existing threat of tariffs from the Trump administration (particularly on Irish pharmaceutical, food and beverage exports) will be incorporated into a new Government action plan being developed by Mr Burke.
It will propose an urgent reappraisal of overseas offices of Irish State agencies including Enterprise Ireland, Bord Bia, Tourism Ireland and the IDA.
It will target expanding trade markets in the EU, Canada and Japan and also quickly developing “joint economic commissions” with China, India and the UAE, to increase trade and commerce between the State and those economic blocs.
The plan will also include new security clearance arrangements for exporting firms and bring forward the completion date of the national semiconductor strategy.
Mr Burke will also tell Cabinet colleagues he expects to expedite work on an action plan on competitiveness and productivity in time for a special “competitiveness summit of Ministers” in July.
The plan will cover industrial policy, reducing costs, reducing regulatory burden, investing in infrastructure, digital regulation and reform, energy reform, international trade and research and development and innovation.
Mr Burke is expected to tell the meeting that the living wage will be increased this year but it is understood there are no commitments for further raises next year.
Reacting to the impending announcement of the measures, unions accused the Government of having succumbed to intense lobbying by employer groups who, they said, had been “opportunistic” in seeking to capitalise on recent tariff-related economic uncertainty.
Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Owen Reidy said moves like the one to push back the date for the implementation of the living wage would be regarded as “appalling” even by workers not directly affected.
He said recommendations by the Low Pay Commission with regard to the minimum wage rate for the following year were intended to take into account the move to the living wage and that that brief would either have to be changed or the recommendation, due in July, rejected for the first time by any government.
The consultation process for this year’s process actually closed on Friday.
Siptu deputy general secretary Greg Ennis, meanwhile, said delaying the start of auto-enrolment, even for a few months, was “unacceptable”. “It’s been spoken about for 20 years and it’s denying workers, 700,000 workers, who don’t have an occupational pension, the earliest possible start to providing for their futures,” said Mr Ennis.
He said the measures being announced presented the latest evidence of a shift in attitude by Government parties towards workers over the past two years.
