Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State, as my constituency colleague, on his new position. I look forward to working with him for the betterment of the people we are here to serve.

As has been stated, the Screening of Third Country Transactions Bill 2022 seeks to provide Ireland with screening of foreign direct investment in key infrastructure in strategic sectors. People might be shocked to learn that such a formal screening process is not already in place. We have seen substantial privatisation of infrastructure over the past 20 years. It is alarming that it has taken so long to bring forward legislation on screening FDI in the public interest.

The Bill has been produced in response to an EU regulation that aims to establish the EU-wide framework for screening FDI. The regulation aims to facilitate information sharing and co-operation between member states and non-EU foreign direct investment.

While the EU has competency for FDI in a number of areas, this is predominantly a national competency as it relates to national security and public order. The importance of this legislation cannot be overstated. It is long overdue and it is vital we work together to ensure robust protections are in place.

One aspect of the EU regulation relates to information on the ownership structure of companies. Beneficial owners should never be allowed to hide behind complex legal structures. We have far too little transparency when it comes to corporate ownership and finance in general. This has huge implications far beyond the scope of this Bill relating to our ability to govern and tax the private sector nationally and internationally. In this Bill it has a direct implication for our ability to effectively screen FDI in strategically important sectors. We need to be more ambitious in this legislation and go beyond the overly narrow definition of national security and public order envisaged by the EU.

The driving force behind this move at EU level was the investment in infrastructure by Chinese state companies in Europe. The former President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, stated: "If a foreign, state-owned, company wants to purchase a European harbour, part of our energy infrastructure or a defence technology firm, this should only happen in transparency, with scrutiny and debate." That is a completely sensible proposal on the face of it. The then Commission President's statement related to the Port of Piraeus in Greece and a Portuguese electric company that were bought by Chinese state-affiliated companies. However, the irony was not lost on the Greeks and Portuguese as both countries were forced to privatise these important national assets by the troika under austerity.

Like its origins in the EU, the legislation before us has a very narrow focus on state actors. While this should no doubt form part of it, we need to also look at the potential risks related to private interests taking control of important national infrastructure or key sectors more broadly. We are currently suffering the consequences of the privatised electricity market. Our domestic gas asset, the Corrib field, which the Minister of State and I are very familiar with from our constituency, is completely in private ownership. In recent years, we have allowed a genomics company to collect DNA from 400,000 citizens without proper public debate or scrutiny. International property companies have also caused serious disruption to housing provision in this State.

In principle, Sinn Féin supports screening FDI to defend strategic sectors, sensitive technologies and infrastructures. However, this will always have a limited impact unless we look at a different approach to public control and governance over these sectors. Austerity policy and privatisation were a big driver in causing these problems across the EU and that needs to be recognised. This legislation is a step in the right direction but there is scope to strengthen the Bill to protect our citizens and our assets.

See this speech in context