Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is deeply disappointing to hear the Minister of State say that Ireland supports this treaty and that it has worked well or in any way protects energy security. The only thing this treaty protects is the profits of fossil fuel companies. They are looking at ways to bail themselves out before the transition to a decarbonised future. The ISDS is not part of the modernisation process and no matter what conclusions are made next month, it will not address the biggest issue with this treaty.

Ireland is looking at introducing seven temporary gas-fired power plants and there is potentially planning permission in for an LNG terminal in Shannon. They will all be protected by ISDS for years. These are huge projects and they are not temporary. If a future Government decides that it wants to phase out those fossil-fuel facilities, it will be on the hook to cover the profits of those fossil fuel investors. That is exactly what happened to the Dutch Government when it tried to phase out temporary, coal-fired power stations. It now faces litigation in a private corporate court for billions of euro because the court found that it was not doing enough on climate action and it chose to try to close down coal-fired fossil fuel plants. The fact that we are four years into negotiations and still trying to fix this treaty is deeply disappointing. It does not bode well for us meeting our climate targets.