IDA consults pharma firms over EU retaliatory tariffs on the US
The IDA sought the views of Irish-based pharmaceutical companies on the EU's draft list of retaliatory measures to US tariffs earlier this year as part of the Government's response to the European Commission on the proposals.
The European Union published a list of imports from the US which could face tariffs as part of the trade war with the Trump administration in March.
Shortly after the 99-page list was published the IDA's Head of Life Sciences and Food Rachel Shelly circulated it to companies supported by the IDA.
In her email, Ms Shelly asked if pharmaceutical companies had views and said the IDA "will feed them back into the Government system to inform Ireland's response to the EU consultation".
She said the "EU is currently consulting with Member States and key stakeholders".
She added that proposed countermeasures on oils, plastics, metals, machinery, optical apparatus and cables "may be of most relevance to IDA companies".
Ms Shelly said "we are in a dynamic and fast changing situation related to the imposition of tariffs with the potential for further measures being introduced in the coming weeks".
She added: "IDA is focused on partnering with our clients in this uncertain period."
The emails were released to RTÉ News under Freedom of Information legislation by the IDA.
While many of the responses from IDA client companies and their representatives have been redacted, much of the engagement was held over a series of calls with the State body.
However, one of the client companies said that the industry had done an initial assessment and it seemed that while pharmaceuticals were not included "there are two lines which directly refer to the pharmaceutical inputs".
The IDA also received an email on 14 April from representative group BioPharmaChem Ireland which said it was "deeply concerned about the underlying instability and the continued threat this situation poses to our industry".
The organisation also sent the IDA a letter which it had sent to Taoiseach Micheál Martin three days earlier in which it raised concerns about the tariffs "specifically targeting pharmaceuticals".
It said "any retaliatory action on a European level must not impact on patients' access to medicines".
The letter also called on the Government to "reduce regulatory complexity across environmental, medicinal and chemical legislation to enable the faster development and manufacturing of new medicines".
The EU published a full list of counter measures earlier this month in a document running to 218 pages.
While pharmaceuticals were mainly excluded, there were a number of references to inputs used by the industry.
So far the EU has not implemented retaliatory tariffs on the US while negotiations continue on a possible trade deal.
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