Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My question was related to the degree to which supply and demand in some sectors in the past had not always worked out so well. There might be peaks and valleys, as the Minister referred to, and the issue concerns the extent to which protection is provided against this. There will be a competitive advantage for countries in both the East and the West which do not contribute as greatly as the European Union to carbon reduction efforts. To what extent is this likely to become a contentious issue in the course of the negotiations?

The Minister referred to investor-state dispute mechanisms and the limited areas to which they might be applied. Is it foreseen, notwithstanding Ireland's amendment of its Constitution to accommodate membership of the European Union and the European Union's own regulations, that a major international player could sue a government after discovering something that had not been anticipated or was provided for in the agreement or that such player did not anticipate when signing up to the project? This possibility was put to us during discussions at the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs.