Results 6,061-6,080 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Cybersecurity Policy (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: My Department adopts a defence in depth approach to cyber security. This approach uses multiple layers, disparate systems and monitors to deliver security which is not dependent on any single component. Given the heightened level of risk which currently exists, our technical staff has adopted a posture of increased vigilance and oversight of systems. My Department is taking advice from...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the invitation to speak today and for the opportunity to contribute to the committee's consideration of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, the free trade agreement between the EU and Canada. Ratifying CETA is Government policy and an objective of mine as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I welcome the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I reiterate that ratifying CETA is Government policy and an objective of mine as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. While I welcome the scrutiny, I do not want ratification delayed and drifting indefinitely, and for Ireland to have to stand by and watch other member states ratify it ahead of us, as the majority already have. That would send out the wrong message to the world,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Fundamentally, there are a few things we need to accept. If one has an investment treaty, one must have some form of dispute resolution system. An investor court system is as good as any and better than an investor-state dispute settlement, ISDS. This will not be renegotiated. It has been ratified by most member states. I would not like Ireland to be the country that holds this up. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: We had a meeting of EU trade ministers last week in Brussels. It was the first time we met in person since Berlin last year and my first time in Brussels since February 2020. It used to be kind of a second home. It was strange to be there again but great to meet up in person. Hopefully, that will be the norm again from now on. We had a very long meeting. It went on all day. CETA did...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I agree with Deputy Howlin on a few points. We have no concerns about the domestic court system in Canada and I do not think that Canada has any concerns about the domestic court system in Ireland. I am not sure if that is necessarily the case for every EU country. There are some EU countries which unfortunately do not uphold the kind of legal standards of independence of the courts as we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I would like it to have been done already, when we attempted to put it to a vote in the Dáil last December, but our partners in government wanted to take a bit more time to allow committees such as this to scrutinise it. We were happy to concede to that. I would ideally like it to be put to a vote before the summer recess, and certainly no later than this year. I do not want to go...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: In regard to the argument on regulatory chill, it is clear in CETA that the Government continues to have the right to regulate. That is specifically directed to allay concerns about regulatory chill. Most investment claims do not challenge the Government's ability to legislate or regulate but are administrative in character. A Government or State actor would be sued not because it has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It should not have any impact on the taxpayer unless a very the strange situation whereby a Canadian company can prove in court that it has been discriminated against by the Irish Government or one of its agencies. I do not see that arising. As I mentioned earlier, there is a potential very positive impact for the Irish taxpayer in that it is estimated that CETA will grow our GDP by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is impossible for me to comment on the second question. Under the lobbying Act anyone who carries out lobbying has to declare on whose behalf the lobbying is being carried out. It is a question for SIPO more so than for me. My understanding is that anybody who is lobbying a designated public official, which all of us are, must declare that and state what the purpose of the lobbying was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I understand the argument in favour of a precautionary approach but if we took that approach we would not have signed up to anything. I do not think we would have signed up to the European Court of Justice, which is able to overrule our national courts. That is a more far-reaching action than could ever arise from something like CETA. We would not have signed up to the International Court...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I wish to clarify what I said earlier in case I was misunderstood or I misspoke. I would not question the right of any citizen to take a case to court, whether a Deputy, a Senator or otherwise. People and companies are free to go to court and free to seek vindication of their legal rights. However, I believe there is a decency issue. When people take cases that are unnecessary or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Senator Boylan said the majority of countries representing the majority of the population had rejected it. That is not the case.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: It is correct to say they have not ratified it. My thanks to the Senator for clarifying that. Of the 27 countries, 15 have ratified and 12 have not. As I mentioned earlier, the Assemblée Nationale in France, the equivalent of the Dáil, has ratified it. As Senator Boylan said, the French Government intends to ratify it. It is simply a matter of timing. It is for political...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: Sorry, I did not quite get the question. Can Deputy Duffy give it to me again?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: The sums of €600 million and €200 million are ballpark figures based on the Copenhagen estimate that it will increase our GDP by 0.2% between now and 2030. It is not possible to estimate the potential cost because then one has to start imagining cases that could be successful. One would have to imagine all cases of discrimination causing harm that could be successful that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: One of the Senator's points is very valid, which is more cases are being taken with respect to environmental and other regulations, not only by companies but also NGOs. However, people, NGOs and companies have the right to sue. The question is whether they are successful. The risk analysis is as I described it. We can write that up if the Senator wishes. Essentially, we are saying the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: They are very different issues and that is a little disingenuous. This will be a scenario whereby an investor is discriminated against and loses out. An NGO claiming losses on behalf of someone else or society in general is very different from a legal entity like a company or even an individual claiming that they incurred losses themselves. The Senator asked whether there was a risk of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: I am not sure what the process would be. Is there a risk? Of course there is. If the State or a government changes its regulation or rules mid-stream, can it be sued? Of course it can and it has been sued. The State is sued from time to time when it changes its rules or regulations mid-stream or mid-process but is that risk higher because of an ICS? I do not think so because the same...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement: Discussion with Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (26 May 2021)

Leo Varadkar: One point the Senator is missing is that it must be discriminatory. It is not a case of the State changing its rules or bringing in new public health restrictions or new environmental laws. The company would have to prove it had been specifically discriminated against.