The Irish government is planning to push ahead with the full ratification of the CETA deal, and opening Ireland up to the controversial corporate courts system.
The supreme court previously found that the full ratification of CETA was not only unconstitutional, but would require a referendum.
The legislation that they have published today is an attempt to sidestep the original court opinion, and to open the door for these courts.
This would be a terrible move that offers no real benefit to Ireland according to Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, who insists that this deal will only make it harder to deliver on key issues.
“The government published this late on a Sunday night to try and avoid any more scrutiny of this terrible decision.
“This mirrors what they did the last time they tried to ratify the CETA deal in December 2020 – which was defeated by people coming together to push back against the full ratification of the deal.
While the free trade element of the CETA deal is already in effect, it’s the full ratification of the deal that would see the ‘corporate courts’ introduced.
“Corporate courts are not open to ordinary people, they allow big businesses to sue states for what they call a loss of profit.
“This could let the same vulture funds who are driving the housing crisis in Dublin to sue Ireland if we ever moved to improve protections for renters here.
“These courts expose Governments to huge payouts and have a chilling effect on policy making.
“Only this weekend we have confirmation that Ireland is being sued in investor courts by two fossil fuel companies.
MEP Boylan says that it is incredible therefore that the move to allow the corporate courts to operate is not just about CETA, with the governments own press release references other “similar agreements with investment protection provisions.
“There are serious questions to be answered by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael about what agreements they’re referring to, and why they are so determined to open Ireland up to being sued by private companies, despite the fact that this will make it harder to deliver on housing, tackling climate change and improving workers rights.
“Sinn Féin are determined to fight this every step of the way”.
CRÍOCH/ENDS
