Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Taoiseach, the European Commission is expected to put forward a proposal in early July declaring the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA as an EU-only deal. This means that the agreement, which will have serious ramifications for every EU member state, will only need to be passed by a qualified majority in the European Council and a simple majority in the European Parliament to be ratified. This approach is an attack on democracy and undermines the sovereignty of member states. It is an attempt to erode environmental, agricultural and labour standards in the EU without its citizens having any real say on the issue.

The legal advice commissioned by Sinn Féin states that any implementation of CETA, which includes an investor state court, will necessitate the holding of a referendum. Has the Taoiseach discussed this with the Attorney General and when does the Taoiseach envisage that this referendum will be held? Perhaps the Taoiseach could clarify if Ireland will argue that CETA will be an agreement of mixed competence. This would mean it will have to be ratified by national parliaments and in some countries by local parliaments. The European Court of Justice has yet to give its legal opinion on the nature of a free trade agreement with Singapore, which will not be expected before 2017. Surely it makes even more sense for the European Commission to make its decision on what type of agreement is being sought by CETA, which potentially is a groundbreaking agreement, after the court's judgment. I ask that the Taoiseach follows through on this logic, acts on behalf of the Irish people at the European Council meeting and demands that CETA is not, as expected, provisionally applied. This would be a logical position.

I will now turn to Apple. We have been told that the Apple tax case is due in early July. If the case goes the same way as recent cases involving Luxembourg, for example, then the State could be in line for a financial windfall. Tax would be due that should have been paid to the Irish Exchequer. Am I correct in saying that this Government, like the last one, insists that it will appeal any decision that finds that State aid was granted illegally? This is a bizarre approach and anybody who is listening at home might feel the same way given that the State could expect a financial return as high as €16 billion. Last week we had the farce of this Parliament, at the Government’s behest, objecting to EU moves to create greater tax transparency and now we have the Government saying that Apple’s legitimate tax should not be repaid to the Irish people if the European Commission finds for that. If the Commission says that Ireland is due tax back then we should take it. That would be the view shared by most people, particularly those who have been left with the financial burden of the bailout of banks, investors and speculators. That approach would also be supported by most taxpayers. Any other response is simply unacceptable especially when the State is seeing a lack of investment as was discussed in the House this morning.

If we want to reinvest we could consider other areas which have been favourable to Apple and its staff, such as water, health services, broadband, housing and transport. There are many ways we can put this money back into the Irish economy, supporting many of these multinationals operating in Ireland whose staff are located here.

The European Council will discuss EU-NATO co-operation ahead of the NATO summit in Warsaw on 8 and 9 July 2016. This is against a backdrop of NATO’s war games in Eastern Europe, which are at their most intense since the end of the Cold War. The further militarisation of the EU and its gradual integration into NATO are ongoing, but many of us on the left would say NATO is a Cold War relic that needs to be decommissioned, instead of aggressively growing and encouraging more spending on weapons. We need to examine this area of greater integration between the EU and NATO. NATO needs to be stood down, decommissioned and consigned to the dustbin of history.

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