Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Returning to the ongoing discussion, I am struggling with this aspect as well. As it stands, Canadian companies can sue the Government in the national courts, as can citizens, etc. However, these proposals allow for separate systems, the likes of which we have not signed up to previously. We have not signed up to anything like this proposed system. In that respect, therefore, the Minister will have to accept that this is something of a new departure. It is not the same process as the national courts because it is not open to everybody. It is only open to these large multinationals and corporations. It is a special corporate court and it is not open to citizens.

It is different to anything that exists now, or am I picking this up wrong? Can the Minister give us an example of something that is the same as the ICS? I ask because this is the aspect that people are concerned about. I am not going to tell him what to do, but I would not infer that people are somehow not capable of understanding this aspect. I think people understand it and they are not glibly writing emails to their elected representatives. People have engaged with the issue and, where they have a concern, they raise it. They are perfectly entitled to do that. I would not dismiss that, and I encourage the Minister not to do so either.

Regarding the specifics of the ICS, where and what are we now signed up to that is the same as this proposal? When people say that this is a new departure, that is, effectively, the case because this would be a new space for us to go into. We can argue the merits and demerits of doing that, but we must first accept that what we would enter into would be a new space. It is a separate and parallel process. It is not the same as our national courts, because, as was said, the national courts can act in the public interest. The ICS is not the same. It is an additional system that is available only to corporations. We are not signed up to anything that is the same as this proposed system. However, if there is, then I would like the Minister to tell us what it is so that we can go and engage with it.