Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for appearing in front of the committee. It is important that colleagues look at the hard facts of this agreement rather than creating a straw man, which might have had some validity in earlier agreements. It is also important to bear in mind we are a country that exports 130% of our GDP and we are one of the most open economies in the world. We have welcomed foreign investment, including Canadian investment, on the basis of respect for the sort of principles underpinning this investor protection agreement, such as no discrimination, everyone being treated fairly and so on.

I was on the trade council and I will ask the Minister to confirm some of the memories I have of these issues. In drawing up this agreement, we bent over backwards to ensure the State's right and the citizen's right to expect government could regulate their interests in every way was protected. First, am I correct that the grounds on which a claim can be taken are restricted? They have to do with a denial of justice, a breach of fundamental due process or targeted discrimination against the company. Second, am I also correct that explicit provision was made whereby there could be no obligation to privatise, no restriction on a government bringing back into public ownership some service and no interference with the state's right to regulate? Frameworks that might impact on the profit of a company can be changed and states are perfectly entitled to do that. In addition, am I correct that there was a decisive move away from the previous ad hoc, closed system, to an open system with a panel of experienced judges from both sides to ensure this process was fair and open and an appeal mechanism was put in place?

While I understand why people have concerns about chilling effects on the State based on past experience, the facts of this agreement are particularly protective. As the Minister said, it was part of the new, progressive generation of trade agreements that recognised the need for a new settlement with globalisation. That is clear. We are shifting expectations of companies, rightly so, but this agreement protects the State's rights.

Does the Minister agree that protectionism is alive and well? Often, it is not at national level; it can be at individual state level. It is important that Irish companies are able to trade in a large country such as Canada and not find that rules in one province, or one part of the federation, are treating it unfairly. There are benefits for Ireland in having this sort of access for our companies, which cannot afford expensive court procedures in several different jurisdictions.