John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will not be outdone by some of my colleagues who have mentioned their counties. Mr. Collenette briefly mentioned Wicklow. There are very strong connections between Wicklow and Canada going back to 1847, particularly around the Coollattin estate, from where thousands of Wicklow people were sent by the Fitzwilliams to help build the New Brunswick-Quebec railway line. This was probably one of the first trade agreements, in that Wicklow citizens were sent over and in return Lord Fitzwilliam got shares within the railway company and was paid for these Wicklow residents who were sent over. I daresay this was probably one of the first trade agreements between Canada and Wicklow.

I note that the speakers all referred to the importance of ratification in terms of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Canada. I ask whether the speakers are honestly saying that diplomatic relations could be damaged because Ireland chooses to trust its own independent court system to settle investor disputes? I note some of the comments made already. It has to be said that our court system has served investors well and has facilitated decades of inward investment from Canada and other countries.

I also point to the recent executive order issued by President Biden very shortly after he assumed the presidency. Within his first few days he halted the Keystone XL pipeline, a decision made more possible by the fact that the US and Canada had renegotiated investor-state dispute settlement, ISDS, out of their United States-Mexico-Canada agreement, USMCA, a trade agreement which dates back to 2018. It has to be noted that on the day before the two presidents met in February, President Biden reaffirmed his position and said it was not up for review. On 23 February the two presidents announced the US-Canada partnership roadmap. I will ask a very direct question. Are speakers saying that Ireland will be treated differently from its US counterparts because we choose to reject the investor dispute mechanism?