Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their presentations. I had the good fortune to be the Minister with responsibility for enterprise just after the financial crash and can certainly appreciate the importance of the Canadian economy in opening up not just inward investment to Ireland but also being an outlet for Irish companies.

The negotiation of CETA certainly created new opportunities. Canada, certainly in the area of food, had been quite closed, and probably remains quite closed in many ways, to export, but CETA opened up opportunities in many sectors, including in the food and drink sector.

I would be interested to hear the witnesses' views on the trade agreement itself. In Ireland there has been quite a deal of controversy about the idea of having an investor dispute settlement mechanism. That would arise in extreme circumstances, where a company was expropriated by the State or treated in a very discriminatory fashion. It sets up an arrangement whereby there can be an adjudication within the agreement as opposed to through the courts. That has been quite controversial in Ireland. I am interested to know if it has been equally very controversial in Canada. These mechanisms are designed less for countries like Canada and probably more for trade agreements with countries that do not have very well-established legal systems, which people would have the ability to manoeuvre their way around. It gives investors some protection, but I would be interested to hear the witnesses' take because it remains a controversial issue in Ireland and has blocked the sanctioning of the Canadian trade agreement.