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

Agreements of this nature have to come back for ratification. The European Commission is mandated to negotiate on behalf of the governments but the deal must be agreed in the end by the governments. We have a common market in the EU so if we are negotiating rules with other markets it is appropriate that the Commission would conduct the negotiation. If legally binding agreements are put in place and some institution refuses to respect them a company would have a right of redress against a failure to honour an agreement that has been signed. The investor-State dispute settlement is a separate question, and if Deputy Wallace tables one I could give him chapter and verse on it. We do not have these investor dispute settlements in Ireland and we have not used them.

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