Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister is probably aware the free trade agreement with Colombia is very contentious. It is not the average free trade agreement, if there is such a thing. We had a cross-party delegation meeting with Justice for Colombia, Trócaire and a large number of highly respected NGOs who are actively campaigning for the Government not to proceed with the free trade agreement in its current format. It is one of those powers that we have as a State but it is only a power if we exercise it. We are requesting that the Government not proceed because a large number of trade unionists have been killed in Colombia in recent years. Both prior to these talks and as a result of these talks there are mass demonstrations in the communities there against these because while there are certain human rights protections those protections are not strong enough.