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

I thank the Deputy for his contribution. He was there when this was being negotiated; I was not so I imagine his memory is correct. He is certainly correct that there is no bar on nationalisation, municipalisation or privatisation. These are all public policy matters and are not trammelled in any way by the treaty.

On the grounds for making a claim, I will again point out companies can already make claims against states. That is nothing new. However, the grounds set out in CETA are the standard for "fair and equitable" treatment. It is:

a clear, closed text which defines precisely the standard of treatment, without leaving ... discretion to the Members of the Tribunal ...

Thus, a breach of the fair and equitable treatment ... can only arise when there is

(a) denial of justice in criminal, civil or administrative proceedings; (b) fundamental breach of due process, including a fundamental breach of transparency, in judicial and administrative proceedings; (c) manifest arbitrariness; (d) targeted discrimination on manifestly wrongful grounds, such as gender, race or religious belief; (e) abusive treatment of investors, such as coercion, duress and harassment; or (f) a breach of any further elements of the fair and equitable treatment obligation adopted by the Parties

These are the grounds on which an Irish company could take action against a Canadian authority orvice versa.They are strong protections and it is legitimate that if an Irish company was treated in that way, it should have recourse to the courts. Again, it is already the case that companies can sue states. There is nothing new about that. What is different in this agreement is that there is an international panel as an alternative to the national courts system. That is to the advantage of Irish companies, rather than dealing with nine or ten provinces with different legal systems. The reverse happens for Canadian companies in Europe that have to deal with 27 different legal systems. They have the certainty of one system that is much easier to manage.

I agree with what the Deputy said about protectionism. It is alive and well and, if anything, is making a comeback, not just in Ireland but around the world. That worries me because there is no doubt Ireland will be a net loser if we start rowing back on free trade and see the rise of protectionism again. As the Deputy mentioned, we are an export-led country.

We are not rich because of oil, gas, diamonds or gold. We are a wealthy country because of the goods and services we produce and sell abroad. We are a country that will lose out in the round if protectionism rises again and free trade is rolled back. That is why it would send a bad message for Ireland not to ratify this agreement.