Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's answer reflects the soporific strategy of the European establishment, which is to refer to large numbers of potential growth that are not based on reality and then to tell us not to worry because none of the concerns that people have will come to pass. Let us consider the question of the environment. In January, we had a concrete promise from the EU to safeguard green laws, defend international standards and protect the EU's right to set high levels of environmental protection.

However, we have the millennium negotiations, a leaked text that has not been released because the negotiations are not taking place in the open. The leaked text from the EU shows the commitment is purely rhetorical. It contains vaguely phrased, non-binding commitments to environmental safeguards. It is clear that in reality, the right of corporations to profit will take precedence over the right of Ireland, European states or America to regulate in terms of environmental interest. That is reflected in the kind of cases we have seen under NAFTA in the ISDS agreement, where, for example, Lone Pine Resources sued Canada for $250 million due to a moratorium on fracking introduced in Québec. The same could happen here if TTIP is signed off on.

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