Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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276. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in view of the findings of the EU Commission consultation process, if he will reconsider his support for the provision of investor state dispute settlements in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. [2688/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The EU Commission published its report on the results of the public consultation on investment protection in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on 13 January, 2015. The report, along with explanatory material, can be found at .

The Commission has indicated that, based on the comments received, there are a number of areas that appear to be particularly important to respondents, which represent four areas of work that should be explored further. These are: the protection of the right to regulate; the establishment and functioning of arbitral tribunals; the relationship between domestic judicial systems and Investor to State Dispute Settlement (ISDS); and the review of ISDS decisions for legal correctness through an appellate mechanism.

The EU Commission has indicated that, in the first quarter of 2015, it will be discussing the report with Member States and the European Parliament, and with different stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations, business, trade unions, consumer and environment organisations. The Commission has further indicated that, following these consultations, it will develop specific proposals for the TTIP negotiations.

I very much welcome this approach, and I believe that it is important to take time to have open and constructive discussion following the Commission’s report that will inform the next steps.

At this stage, there are no negotiations taking place with the United States on this aspect of the proposed agreement.