Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The problem is not that there should not be trade between the United States and Ireland; it is that it is incredible that this matter would not be a subject of major debate at summits of European leaders. That really mirrors the reality of what happens in trade agreements, which involve secretly conducted talks in which representatives of major European corporations have access to key officials conducting the talks on the EU side and in which American corporations and powerful lobby interests have direct access to those on the US side. There is a huge threat, including to environmental standards that the people of Europe demand. Examples concern a prohibition on the general release of genetically modified organisms into our environment, which release the US corporates are strongly pushing for, and the question of allowing into the European Union hormone-treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken, which are anathema to European consumers. In the trade deal between the United States and Canada, for example, a question arises over the right of big business corporations in one state to interfere directly in the other state's affairs by bringing governments to court should environmental standards be too strict according to the corporations' prosecutors. This has incredible implications for the rights of ordinary people, both in Europe and in the United States. It is incredible that the European summit would not be seized of this in a big way.

Second and last, it is also incredible that the taxation scandal is not a major subject of debate at European summits. This shows that, at the very top of Europe, it is really the interests of big businesses, the super-rich and financial markets that are represented, rather than those of ordinary people. It is incredible that literally billions of euro are being saved through taxation deals that are legal but utterly immoral in the cases of Luxembourg, Ireland and the Netherlands, and that the Taoiseach stands over all this. This is evident because the international press has shown that €3 trillion in uninvested profits are lying in banks in Europe instead of going towards creating jobs for the 26 million unemployed. Included are huge amounts that should have been paid in taxes. It is incredible that this is not a source of concern to the Taoiseach.

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