Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In May 2015 I asked the Taoiseach a question during Leaders’ Questions about TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. I outlined my concerns and those of politicians, trade unions, civil society and NGOs. The main concern was TTIP's aim to remove any regulatory barrier to profits and the profit-making potential of multinational and transnational companies. There were also concerns about banking, agriculture, the environment, food safety, workers’ rights and education. Of particular concern was the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism, ISDS, which gives foreign investors the right to sue a sovereign state with a democratically elected government for loss of profits resulting from public policy decisions. I asked for a debate, and six months later we got two and a half hours in the last week of the previous Dáil, which was then dissolved.

The latest round of talks on TTIP began recently. We know that the US President, Mr. Obama, wants to speed up the TTIP agreement process. That is in spite of the fact that more and more voices are expressing concern, including some leading EU politicians, and that the protest against TTIP is gaining momentum. There are also implications from the outcome of the Brexit referendum, because the UK was one of the main EU supporters of TTIP. There is a worry that TTIP will erode the gains developing countries have been making through the World Trade Organization, such as some of the sustainable development goals. Trade policies have a role to play in eradicating poverty but they can also contribute to further poverty and inequality.

In the meantime there is CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. I question the rush to support CETA. The line and the spin seem to be that there are opportunities for Irish businesses, but that is to ignore the concerns people have about the agreement. Those concerns are economic, financial and also constitutional. The ISDS settlement will create a new legal power to make a charge on the state. Article 29.5.2° of the Constitution says that the State must seek the approval of the Dáil to sign up to an international agreement that is likely to place a charge on the State. We have an example from Egypt, where the government was trying to increase the minimum wage and it now faces a lawsuit from a multinational company for the extra costs on it. We face a provisional application of CETA, and if we sign it, that means the agreement will come into effect in this country and in other EU member states before the Dáil and the other parliaments in the EU have a chance to debate it or vote on it. I suggest that we do not allow the agreement to come into effect without thorough investigation and clarification of the economic, financial and legal implications, and also in the interests of our constitutional integrity. There is a real fear that CETA and TTIP will benefit a global business model over local people, and that could also have an impact on our efforts to solve the housing and homeless crisis.

See this speech in context