I do not think the Constitution requires us to guarantee a fair High Court decision, which seems to be the premise of what the Senator is saying. I cannot accept the amendment.

The amendment proposes to assign a broad and ill-defined discretion to the High Court regarding the enforcement of relevant awards. I again repeat that we are designing this following the Supreme Court decision on the Costello judgment, in particular the comments of Mr. Justice Hogan. In CETA, there are specifications regarding final awards. Article 8.39 sets out the specifications regarding final awards in relation to the measure or measures challenged in the claim. The tribunal may only award monetary damages or …

In terms of inducements for investors into the country, one of the biggest inducements is the fact of a free trade agreement. One of the biggest reasons companies invest in this country is because we have free trade agreements and stability. Far from negatively affecting Ireland's competitive advantages, there are quite a number of advantages to ratifying CETA from the perspective of attracting FDI. Ratification of agreements that include investment dispute resolution provisions, reduces investment risk through acc…

I cannot put the matter any further. The Bill has been drafted to ensure compliance with the Constitution and the international obligations we would assume upon ratification of various international agreements. The inclusion of broad discretion as provided for in this amendment would not be in compliance with the obligations, and I am unable to agree to it.

I have to be honest, I had not considered the occupied territories Bill was relevant to CETA, but I can tell the Senator this - the rules of general international law are binding on all states. Our Constitution makes that clear as well. We bind ourselves to international law. It is absolutely inconceivable that a CETA tribunal would make an award that breaches general international law. Therefore, this is unnecessary. To put it mildly, and to be generous, some of the examples are getting more stark now in terms of …

On those points, we go back time and again to the quotation from Ms Justice Dunne, namely that it is inconceivable that there would be a case under CETA that would not also be a case under Irish law. That is the practical reality. The cases that might arise uniquely because of the circumstances that Senator McDowell has outlined are highly unlikely because of the way we operate our system. He favours the judgment of Mr. Justice Charleton. It is not possible for the Government to say it prefers to dissent in a case.…

We do not.

We do not do that.

I welcome the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Government to this important debate. I am grateful to my colleagues in Fianna Fáil for tabling the motion. I want to state clearly that the Government welcomes the debate and does not oppose the Fianna Fáil motion. As I will outline in my statement, in its call for action at EU level the motion aligns with the Government's consistent policy approach over the last few years - which to be fair, has been acknowledged by the Opposition - in response to Israeli breac…

Exactly.

That is not correct.

I will answer this question on behalf of the Minister. The ratification of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, between Canada and the EU is an absolute priority for the Government. The 2025 programme for Government contains a specific commitment to ratify this important free trade agreement and the Government is committed to delivering on it. The ratification of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is an important part of Ireland’s diversification strategy in reducing concentra…

In relation to farmers, citizens and consumers, they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. They benefit. We are not selling out; we are buying and selling goods and services. This is mutually beneficial. CETA is not a threat to our sovereignty. Every time an agreement is reached with another entity or country within the EU, there is a sharing of sovereignty in order to get bigger benefits for all of our citizens. I do not accept that the legislation is being rus…

The idea that we would have to pay off X to protect the children of this country is simply the latest scare story about CETA. It is unbecoming of the debate to start going into this. By stating that, Deputy Gibney has completely ignored the terms of CETA, the joint interpretative instrument and the fact that there are no precedents for this investor court system she can rely on because it is not in existence yet. The safeguards are in place. The agreement is there to enhance our economies, and it has done that. If …

I attended the informal General Affairs Council in Lefkosi, Nicosia, in Cyprus on 11 May. Hybrid threats, of course, including foreign information manipulation and interference, FIMI, represent a serious political and security challenge for the EU and our partners. Ireland continues to work together with our EU counterparts to counter such activities. The work includes implementation of the EU’s hybrid, cyber and foreign information manipulation and interference toolboxes. Together, these provide a range of measure…

The Government is committed to delivering a successful Presidency. We continue to engage closely with EU partners and An Garda Síochána as the preparations accelerate. The scale and significance of Presidency events that are planned to take place in Ireland mean that unprecedented security considerations arise, certainly for the European political community meeting. That will be the largest ever meeting of its type in Ireland. The security arrangements that will be put in place will reflect the wider backdrop of a …

The Deputy is certainly not wrong. I agree with him. There is huge potential for people to be influenced in an unwitting way in most cases. The test that I always try and put forward is what is in the best interest of this country, not what is in the best interest of a particular ideology. Counter-drone capability will be very important for events during the Presidency. As the Deputy said, the airport was closed in Denmark during some of their major meetings because of drone activity. Lithuania takes the Presidency…

That is not true.

No.

Senator McDowell does not agree with the Senator on that.