Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. O'Sullivan for putting this trade agreement in context. We are starting our scrutiny of the trade agreement and he is our first speaker. We appreciate him giving his time to put the agreement in context. Following the conclusion of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement we are all becoming a little bit expert at trade agreements generally so we have that background as we start this process.

I hear very clearly what Mr. O'Sullivan is saying with regard to the investor court system in that if we were to delete that in some way it would involve a renegotiation of the agreement. My view is that would signify the end of the agreement.

I also clearly hear what he is saying about the multilateral investor court, the bilateral investor court and the ad hocarbitration process systems, namely, that they are parallel and separate from national legal systems. This committee has to examine the constitutionality of the entire investor court system but, ultimately, that is probably a matter for the courts, not the Oireachtas.

My main question is coming at that from a different angle. It relates to environmental health and worker rights' regulations. There is no doubt that Ireland was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century with regard to these issues as a result of the EU. In Mr. O'Sullivan's experience and given his knowledge of these trade agreements, and I am not talking about Canada but other countries where these trade agreements have been concluded, have they improved standards in those countries where the standards needed to be improved? I refer to standards relating to the environment, health, worker rights, level playing field issues and so on. Is there any evidence to show that those standards have improved as a result of these trade deals where they needed to be improved?