Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Kelly for his presentation. He has painted the agreement in glowing terms by speaking about the possibilities for this country and putting a very positive spin on it. He has alleged that it could make Ireland even more profitable and competitive and could lead to the creation of many more jobs and opportunities here. I assume he is aware, as those of us who are informed about the agreement are, that a report published by the employment committee of the European Parliament plays down the opportunities that will come out of CETA, especially by comparison with what we have heard in Mr. Kelly's report. I would like him to comment on the report. I assume he is familiar with it. I will quote some of the aspects of it that jump out at me. I refer particularly to the predictions in the report about what CETA will bring to the EU. I ask Mr. Kelly for his comments on the matter. The European Parliament committee has looked at this in detail, as I assume the departmental officials have done. According to the committee's report, "at best [there will be] marginal overall increases for EU employment of no more than 0.018% over a 6 to 10 year implementation period". The report refers to a "forecast [of] actual job losses of 204,000 for the EU as a whole". The figures for profits are slightly better, with the report envisaging "a 0.66% increase in favor of capital owners". As an opponent of CETA and as a member of a trade union, Unite, and a political party that opposes the agreement, I ask Mr. Kelly to address that.

I am one of the many people who have lobbied, campaigned and protested against the nature of this type of agreement, as other speakers have already mentioned. We contend that CETA places at risk the safeguarding of workers' rights, environmental rights and local labour law and strengthens the protections for international capital, employers and companies. I suggest Mr. Kelly admitted that when he said the courts, through the system of investor-state dispute mechanisms, will protect Canadian people who want to invest in Ireland. He intimated that at present, someone who is hurting because of our laws can go to the Four Courts and take a case against the Irish Government. I would like him to spell out to me what he means by "hurt". Under CETA, we could be sued in the international courts system not because we have hurt people or impinged on their profits, but because they have lost out on a reasonable expectation of profit. They might not have lost a single penny, a single job or a single boat or airplane, but they might have lost out on a reasonable expectation of making more money. On that basis, we are allowing questions to be raised with regard to our labour and environmental protection laws.

A Bill proposing to prohibit fracking in Ireland has been tabled by a Fine Gael Deputy and Government supporter and is to be considered on Second Stage in the Dáil shortly. Lone Pine Resources sued the Canadian Government to the tune of $260 million because it did not want to see fracking banned in the province of Quebec. Would it not be a great irony if a company from Canada were to take Ireland to court for not allowing fracking in Leitrim? This Dáil democratically decided to express its opposition to fracking by supporting a Bill that was proposed by a Fine Gael Deputy just before Christmas. I mention that in the context of Senator Gavan's contention that there is a contradiction in all of this with regard to how we deal with democracies. This proposal undermines local and international democracy. This Parliament has decided that it does not want fracking because it is concerned about the poisoning of our groundwater and about climate change. We do not think we need to extract any more fossil fuels from the earth.

We have listened to the many local opponents of fracking and decided that we do not want it. I am concerned that a company, or an individual who feels he is being hurt because he could have had a reasonable expectation of profit in County Leitrim, will be able to take us to one of these courts and sue us for millions of euro. Companies have previously sued states on the basis of a loss of reasonable expectation. This has happened to some of the poorest countries, including Ecuador, and to some of the richest countries, including Canada and the US. Under this system, decisions on such cases will not be made by a friendly court that represents citizens, but by a court that is structured to represent the interests of business. The interests of people and the environment are being undermined for the interests of profit. I know that is a mouthful, but I would like Mr. Kelly to address it so that we can get a holistic view of what is going on.