Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our MEP, Ms Lynn Boylan, who has joined us today. I reiterate what Senator Gavan said. His comments are important because sustainability is not a word we will be using if we allow the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement to come in to this country. I know our MEPs in Europe, certainly those in the group Ms Boylan is in, have bought fiercely against it. They have been in the vanguard. Most Senators are aware of TTIP and I hope the majority are against it. It will destroy our society, our workers, trade unions and any idea of standing up and fighting to hold on to what we have, never mind progressing to what we need. It amounts to privatising profits and socialising losses. It will absolutely destroy what we have. We have seen this in Mexico and other areas of America as well, where these agreements have the power to supersede any rights that already exist in countries such as ours. We have fought too long and hard to let this go. Everything the Minister of State does in the area of sustainability has to be done with an eye on TTIP and its sneaky progression into legislation here, although I hope that does not materialise.