Results 5,421-5,440 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Yes, but it depends on the country, of course. Most have ratified and some that have not are ahead of us, such as France and the Netherlands, for example, where it has gone through their national assemblies. There are others that are at the same stage as we are or are behind us.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We have not set a date yet for a vote in the Dáil. We would like to do it sooner rather than later but there is no date set at this stage. Committee hearings are ongoing, as well as court cases. In the first court case the High Court found very much in favour of the Government's position but there is another court case as well. We are not sure what will happen with that or whether...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I have had conversations with other Ministers about this. I imagine we will be in contact with the new Canadian Government when it is established but it looks like the new Canadian Government will be the same as the previous one. They would be very much urging us to ratify this and are big supporters of the agreement and want closer ties with Ireland and the EU. With regard to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We are seeing many of the benefits already such as a 78% increase in exports of goods to Canada and a 44% increase in service exports. That is benefiting Irish jobs and businesses. It is increasing tax revenues to fund our public services, and that is only getting started. There is an opportunity to build on that, particularly for SMEs. As I mentioned earlier, when the rules of trade are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is always the case that somebody can sue if he or she feels that he or she has been subjected to expropriation or confiscation. If that were to happen now, potentially, any company - an Irish company, a Canadian company or a company from Sri Lanka - could sue. They would do so through the national courts or through existing mechanisms. This is just a new mechanism, and one that we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: There is not a significant change.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not saying it is all the same. Where there is an international agreement or treaty, it is standard that there would be a mechanism for adjudicating disputes where they occur. We have the European treaties and, therefore, we have the ECJ and the European courts. We have international courts and when it comes to any international treaty or agreement, we tend to have some form of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate the Deputy’s intellectual honesty in this regard. He is against these mechanisms, full stop.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Rather than having free trade, the Deputy's view is that trade should be managed by states. That is fine.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The false impression being created, and I see this in the emails that I and other Deputies receive, is that ratifying CETA will for the first time, somehow, allow Canadian and other foreign companies to sue the State and State agencies for discrimination. As the Deputy pointed out, however, that happens all the time. There are hundreds of thousands of cases, so there is no change in that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: No-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: No, what I was saying is that there is a difference between an international court and arbitration panel on one hand and a national court on the other. However, I am also saying that when it comes to international treaties and agreements, it is fairly standard and commonplace to have international courts and international arbitration mechanisms. This situation is no different. It is not a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: There is obviously the energy treaty, which involves something along those lines, and we are subject to other international courts, for example.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not saying that it is the same-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy keeps saying that I have said it is the same, but I did not. What I am saying is that where there are international agreements and treaties such as the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, TCA, that we completed with the United Kingdom, for example, and the treaty on the protocol, it is necessary to have some sort of mechanism to adjudicate disputes. That is where international...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The implication that some people are suggesting, though, is that somehow the ratification of CETA will for the first time allow Canadian companies to sue the State or to take us to court for discrimination. That is not the case and it is a false argument-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: If the Deputy read the emails that other Deputies are receiving in their inboxes from constituents concerned about this issue, he would see that somebody has clearly and deliberately given those people the wrong impression. Those correspondents think that for the first time it is going to be possible for companies to sue the State. That is not the case. This has been the case since...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. People are capable of understanding the issues, but, unfortunately, sometimes they are misled. Some people genuinely believe that ratifying CETA will mean that for the first time it will be possible for Canadian companies to sue the State. That is not true. Many things have been put out there that are not true. People are being told that it will be possible to sue for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I do not have such a breakdown. I am not sure if one is available but, if it is, we will provide it for the Deputy. The business groups that speak on behalf of industry, including large and small companies and SMEs, favour the ratification of CETA. They have made that clear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (22 Sep 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We do know that. I am certain that some of the 78% increase in goods exports and the 44% increase in service exports relate to SMEs. I cannot give the Deputy the exact figure but if we can identify it, we will.