Mr. Barry Finnegan:

I could not agree more with Senator Quinn.

After an incredible amount of lobbying and the threat of legal action by our then Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, in Brussels, the Commission eventually released the nine-page mandate given to it by the 28 ministers and we see that it is a very negative document. The Commission went into the TTIP negotiations with the express intention of ending government monopolies, forcing the privatisation of public services and getting rid of what it called "non-tariff barriers". We have a very good system to help trade and it is called democracy. The non-tariff barriers in question are the laws and regulations that we, as a society, have put in place to protect ourselves.

My understanding of democracy is that the rules and regulations which govern the interactions between individuals and between individuals and companies reflect the values of the people. It is quite clear, if one reads the nine-page mandate for the negotiations, that the TTIP is set against these values. When we sound negative, it is due to the fact that the starting position is that the regulations and laws in place are bad because they interfere with private profit. We say that those regulations are good because they defend consumer rights, defend environmental protection and allow for the operation of a competitive business environment.

Think of what happened to the poor Luddites. They were living in little villages and making shoes in family-owned businesses, with children running around learning the skills of their fathers. People were in charge of their own destinies, deciding when and when not to work in sustainable community-based businesses. Then hell on earth came with gargantuan ten-storey factories in which children's arms were chopped off, there were no safety regulations, workers who spoke out were beaten and pregnant women did heavy lifting. Life expectancy was reduced from the late 60s down to the late 20s and mid-30s. That is what mechanisation did. In the 1800s in Europe, we then had the wonderful idea of the Enlightenment and evidence-based policy-making.

The democratic vote was used to protect people in their work environment. The entire objective of TTIP is to get rid of those rules and regulations that protect both the quality of work and of consumer goods. If we come across as negative, it is because we are against that and we are for democracy.