Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

We need to lead on these issues and we are not leading by remaining in those negotiations. We are supporting the closed-door arbitration court which allows companies to sue for lost profits. We are supporting the protection of €344.6 billion in European fossil fuel assets. Total claims are estimated to cost governments €1.3 trillion worldwide by 2050. There is an ongoing case brought by German company RWE for €1.4 billion despite Germany announcing in 2023 its own phasing-out of coal. How can we even stay within these negotiations. They are not working. Why have nine countries, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark, Poland and Luxembourg, already left? We should be leading. The European Parliament voted with a majority of 100 votes to leave the treaty. Eight countries represent about 70% EU population. An open letter signed by more than 280 parliamentarians from across the EU said that "The ECT is a serious threat to Europe's climate neutrality target and more broadly to the implementation of the Paris Agreement." The Minister should come before the Dáil and have statements on this to allow a real debate on where we are at the moment. We should be pulling out of this and indicating that very strongly.

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