Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Corporations sue governments all the time. If the Deputy went down to the Four Courts today and looked at the court list, she would see many examples of corporations suing Departments, the Government, Ireland and its agencies and vice versa. The Government sues companies regularly where we feel they have breached a contract or treated us unfairly. It is, therefore, a red herring to suggest that the introduction of an ICS would cause this to happen. This happens all the time.

Some of the cases the Deputy mentioned were not in investor courts. They were in regular courts in those jurisdictions. This idea that all of a sudden companies will be able to sue governments and vice versais a red herring. That has been the case since courts existed and companies were given legal personality. It is incorrect and a little derogatory to say that courts would side with corporations over people. That is not the experience in our courts at the moment. Our judges act judiciously. They do not side with companies or the Government over people or vice versa. They take into account what the law is, listen to the evidence and make a judgment based on that. It may not have been what the Deputy meant to say but it is rather pejorative to suggest that courts are against the people and side with corporations.