Seanad debates

Friday, 2 July 2021

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage

 

9:30 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The aspect I am addressing in my amendment relates to what is not in the Bill. Opening up this topic was, again, a choice by the Government which decided to include this new section. It would perhaps require less debate now if it had been in the original Bill sent to the climate action committee but it was not. This is a late addition by the Government in its new draft of the Bill. I am speaking not so much to what is in the Bill as to what is not. While there is a limitation of liability in respect of citizens in it, of individuals who might take cases, we do not have huge amounts of precedence of individuals taking cases for compensation but we have a long list of companies and investors who have sought compensation directly related to climate action. I am not talking about trade agreements; this is not about trade whatsoever. This is to do with investor arbitration. It relates to the investor courts system that is proposed to be brought in under CETA, which would be disastrous for the State, but it relates more specifically to the Energy Charter Treaty which we are already under. I put it to the Minister that he is choosing to limit liability in one area and choosing not to limit it in respect of other very powerful and very strong actors, which have a long record of actually seeking compensation and damages in relation to climate law right across Europe. We therefore have the hypothetical danger we talked about whereby every individual would look to take the Government to court because of their house being flooded, and we have the real situation of investors and corporations actively and regularly seeking compensation because they do not like the impact that climate action taken by states has on their profitability and their expectations of same. They regard this impact as unfair. As such we have a real threat and a hypothetical one.

I will finish on this because it is clear the Minister is not going to accept the amendment. He is dealing with this hypothetical threat but the real threat is left unaddressed. In doing so the Minister chooses to strengthen the hand of those who would take cases. The Minister might not accept my amendment but I would like to hear an indication from him that there will never be a case or situation whereby a decision in relation to this Bill and action on it is influenced by the possible danger of a compensation claim a company might make. Is it the case that this will never happen? Can the Minister testify that nothing in this legislation, or in any of his other actions this year, is influenced by concerns about potential exposure the State may have?

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