Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and the witnesses. I thank the Chairman for allowing me to sit in on this very important and interesting discussion. I have a number of questions, first, for Ms Drisdelle, and hopefully then I can then come back with a question for Mr. Collenette.

We are hearing today of the benefits of the ICS. Last week we had experts in who said that they were very concerned about the system. From speaking to my constituents, there are many concerns among people as to what we might be signing up to not just for the immediate future but for a 20-year period into the future. Much of this will come down to when the deal is ratified and in operation and to the interpretation of the text and how court systems interpret what is within the agreement. Taking that into consideration, do our witnesses accept the concept of the chilling effect and that the very nature of this agreement could impede a government in making a policy decision without being fearful of what that decision could incur by way of compensation costs or through the ICS? Regardless of the outcome of such a court process, the potential is there to impede a government in making a decision for the benefit of its own people. We were given a few examples last week such as Romania withdrawing from the nominations of the UNESCO site because of a gold mine in its territory and the risk relating to an environmental permit. A number of cases show that the chilling effect is real. Do our witnesses believe that this is something that could impact on an Irish or Canadian Government in respect of CETA?

Second, there has been discussion about SMEs as it is not just the large corporations that are covered under this agreement.

The 2019 judgment of the European Court of Justice raised a concern that the cost of these courts under the ICS would be prohibitive for SMEs. It stated: "The extent of the financial risk undertaken by bringing proceedings before the CETA Tribunal may accordingly be such, for a natural person or a small and medium-sized enterprise, as to deter that investor from initiating the proceedings." Was this something about which the witnesses were concerned?

I will revert with a quick question for the representative of the ICBA.