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

I thank the three speakers for their presentations. I join others in acknowledging the close economic, cultural and social relations between our two countries. Long may they continue.

Following the presentations, my takeaway points are as follows. Ireland has a €1.6 billion trade surplus with Canada. Since CETA was provisionally applied, Irish exports to Canada have increased by 58%. Those are significant statistics. I thank the speakers, particularly Mr. Collenette and Mr. East, for the clarity they have given regarding the competencies of the domestic courts versus the competencies of the investor court system. That is certainly something the committee should take away from this discussion.

Given Mr. East's experience with international trade agreements generally, were this trade agreement to fall as a result of the EU not ratifying it, how practical would a renegotiation be?

Obviously, this deal has been many years in the making. Would it effectively signal the end of the trade agreement in real practical terms?

I have another point to make to Ms Drisdelle. This trade agreement has to be ratified by the parliaments of all EU states, and some regional parliaments within certain states, so there is still a bit to go in respect of it. Even a regional parliament could throw the deal out and cause the whole thing to fall. Is that something about which the Canadian Government is concerned? Is it proactive in selling the benefits of this agreement in the other EU states? Is the Canadian Government conscious of this issue and is it being proactive about it in other EU states, because it may be that Ireland will not have to deal with this issue at all if some regional parliament rejects the agreement?