Simon Coveney, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, will be in Galway next week to address a public meeting on Brexit and the upcoming trade talks between the UK and EU.
The meeting, which will take place in the Galway Bay Hotel on Thursday January 30 at 7.30pm, will also be addressed by Julie Sinnamon, CEO, Enterprise Ireland; Mark Gantly, senior R&D director at Hewlett Packard; and Breda Fox, CEO, Local Enterprise Office.
Galway West TD, Hildegarde Naughton, who has invited the Tánaiste to Galway, said recent comments by British chancellor, Sajid Javid, showed that the Brexit negotiations were “only half done”.
At the weekend, Chancellor Javid said Britain would not accept any equivalence of standards with the EU, meaning goods produced in Britain would not adhere to European quality rules.
“If this rhetoric is maintained, it means that the possibility of a free trade agreement between the EU and UK are nil. That would have a very serious effect on Irish trade,” she said. “The European Union, and Ireland, have been quite clear. No country in the EU can or will import a product that does not adhere to clear European standards. That means no chlorinated chicken, no machinery, domestic appliance or car that does not comply with EU standards and no beef that fails to meet European safety rules.”
Dep Naughton said the UK “appears to be in a race to the bottom in terms of production values in all areas.”
