Attended a meeting of the EU Affairs Committee today. First part of meeting was about the implementation of the Single Market Act. I made the point that it’s startling about how incomplete the single market is. Only 1.5% of procurement takes place across borders.
The completion of this Act across Europe offers a huge strategic opportunity for Ireland.
Two questions I asked were
– apart from concerns in relation to corporation tax and a consolidated tax base what vulnerabilities or threats does the Department of Enterprise and Employment see in the Bill.
– to ask what can be done to co-ordinate the work of national and local bodies to deliver better implementation of single market policies.
We then had a debate on a motion from a Fiannna Fail TD, Michael Mulcahy, that is designed to investigate the rate of interest on EU/IMF deal. This was accepted by the committee.