Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue of carbon rules and what responsibilities different countries take on in containing climate change and carbon build-up in the atmosphere will not be discussed in the negotiations. That is an issue for discussion at the United Nations, not the in negotiations on the trade agreement.

An international player could only use an ISDS in the limited circumstances I outlined, as per what was proposed in the Canadian agreement. The first circumstance is that such a player would have to have suffered damage. Second, that damage would have to have been discriminatory and in breach of fair and equitable treatment obligations. In other words, the party would have to show both that it had suffered damage and, second, there had been a fundamental breach of due process or there was evidence of targeted discrimination.

The party would have to demonstrate those two phenomena before it could even initiate a case. If it has initiated a case and is successful, it cannot force the Government to change its regulations, but it could get compensation. That is the way that system works.