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

Tá cúpla rud gur mhaith liom caint faoi san am atá agam. Tá dhá rud i gceist agam atá ag cur imní ar dhaoine. An chéad ceann ná CETA. We know CETA will apply provisionally from April, but we are told it will not be brought before the Dáil for ratification until a judgment has been handed down by the European Court of Justice on another trade deal. The concern is that this is only on one deal, the Singapore one. Under CETA a commercial tribunal will adjudicate - not an Irish or EU court - when a company takes legal action against a state. There is a glaring absence of a cost-benefit analysis and due diligence. Another concern is that this commercial tribunal will remain in place for 20 years even if future governments do not want it.

We claim we are committed to European values. One of those is surely the right to trade without recourse to investor-court systems by foreign-based companies. Therefore, will Ireland seek a reference to the European Court of Justice on the legality under EU treaties and law of the investor-court systems? I asked that question of the Taoiseach some weeks ago and he said he would get back to me on it but he has not done so to date. Such legal clarity on the investor-court system is required before any ratification vote.

The second area of concern is migration. We know the figures on migration and internal displacement. One in particular is very striking. The number of registered Syrian refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan is the same as Ireland's population. There are challenges regarding humanitarian needs and the threat from radical terrorism. We need to ensure that we continue our commitment to protecting the human rights and dignity of all. We all need to be aware of our obligations under international law. Under the Geneva Convention we are required to protect those fleeing war and oppression. Under the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we should support and protect one another regardless of race, religion, nationality or economic circumstances.

However, we are increasingly hearing the growing securitisation narrative. Security-related language is starting to penetrate the human rights area. It is a shift from the humanitarian paradigm to the security paradigm. The UN special rapporteur pointed out how, instead of deterring terrorism or radicalisation, the securitised approach is having the opposite effect. It polarises us and feeds into the narrative of terrorism. That report states that efforts for education, employment, inclusion and respect for human rights represent the most effective approach in countering the spread of terrorism.

We know the root causes of migration are land grabs, war, famine, extreme poverty and rights displacement. Those root causes need to be tackled in order that people do not feel they have to leave their country of origin. While the EU has been a major contributor when it comes to development aid, two recent approaches are very alarming, namely, the EU migration partnership frameworks and the EU emergency trust funds. The alarm is coming from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, institutions and civil society, which claim there has been minimal if any involvement from them in designing the trust funds or in allocating the funds. There are concerns over the heavy persuasive methods being used to get African countries to comply and the sanctioning of African countries if they do not comply.

There are concerns that those approaches are diverting from the real aim of development aid, which is to tackle the root causes of poverty. There are concerns that these trust funds are going to countries where there are serious human rights violations. For example, Sudan is being seen as a partner in addressing migration. It is a country that fails to respect international refugee law. It has a repressive regime that forcibly returns refugees to Eritrea. It is a country of forced displacement and there is also evidence of cluster bombs. We know about the problems in Libya. We must ask where people will be sent if they are caught by the Libyan authorities.

Oxfam has pointed out that the EU is now bargaining with countries that it previously would have held at arm's length due to their abuse of human rights. Returning to European values, there is supposed to be inclusion, respect and dignity from all the European countries that have signed up to the sustainable development goals. Very alarmingly, the EU is using distorted figures, particularly from Niger, to claim that these new policies are working but they are not.

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