Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand the argument in favour of a precautionary approach but if we took that approach we would not have signed up to anything. I do not think we would have signed up to the European Court of Justice, which is able to overrule our national courts. That is a more far-reaching action than could ever arise from something like CETA. We would not have signed up to the International Court of Justice. We would not have signed the European Convention on Human Rights. If we took the precautionary approach to any of these things we would not have signed up to them. I do not agree with that argument.

Many of the cases people have put forward have been red herrings. One case that people often mention was in Egypt, where a company took Egypt to court. The suggestion was that the company was suing Egypt because it increased the minimum wage. First, that was misleading. That is not why the company took Egypt to court. It took Egypt to court because there was a clause in the contract providing that it would be compensated for any changes to social charges. The company actually lost the case. Anyone can take a case to court. It does not mean the plaintiff will be successful. I think the case referred to by the Deputy taken against Romania is the Gabriel Resources case. That case is still pending. It is almost a natural extension of the Deputy's argument to say we should take away the right of people to go to court because they might do so.