David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Charles Flanagan, on his appointment. It is good to have a Laois man in charge of foreign affairs. I wish to ask two specific questions, the first of which is quite a simple one. It concerns what developments there are with regard to the appointment of an ambassador to the Holy See. I understand that Ms Emma Madigan is being considered for this post. I would like an update on that if there are any developments in that area.

The second and most important thing I want to raise is the transatlantic trade and investment partnership. It is a malign and secretive development, so I would like to establish clearly what Ireland's position is with regard to it. There seems to be a complete lack of clarity and co-ordination between different Departments. The central problem is the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, which will allow corporations to sue governments before a panel of arbitrators without any other people having any representation. It is not subject to judicial review.

We already have a situation where tobacco companies are using mechanisms to sue states. Philip Morris is suing the governments of Uruguay and Australia which are trying to discourage people from smoking. The Occidental oil company was awarded $2.3 billion in compensation from Ecuador which terminated an agreement because they had violated Ecuadorian law. This is quite extraordinary and it comes within our remit because we are the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.

In this context, I wish to ask about a letter signed with 13 other states by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton. The letter stressed that the ISDS should be included. It insisted on it. That is quite extraordinary, particularly since it was not discussed either in the Dáil or the Seanad. This is a democracy. This is a most significant development that affects trade, human rights and the capacity of major corporations to sue individual countries outside the ordinary remit of the law.

In the absence of any debate in the Oireachtas, what was the authorisation for the Minister, Deputy Bruton, to sign this letter? Perhaps he did it accidentally. Perhaps it was just shoved across his desk, but there should be a full discussion of this matter.

A letter written by 120 legal experts pointed out that the planned ISDS deal would "extend the reach of the investment arbitration regime to levels of an entirely new order of magnitude". This is something that should be discussed by our representatives in both Houses of the Oireachtas. A strong position should be taken.

I did not mention the Middle East, but I strongly endorse what Deputy Brendan Smith said, and I will leave it at that.