The government is attempting to ram through full ratification of the EU-Canada trade agreement (CETA), despite the Supreme Court finding their previous attempt to do so was unconstitutional, without any pre-legislative scrutiny, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Senator Patricia Stephenson.<\/p>\n
Two members of the Foreign Affairs Committee \u2013 Senator Stephenson and Senator Alice Mary Higgins \u2013 have expressed alarm at the lack of pre-legislative scrutiny ahead of government plans to ratify CETA.<\/p>\n
Senator Stephenson said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the government\u2019s attempt to ratify the European Union\u2019s free trade agreement with Canada (CETA) was unconstitutional. Mr Justice Hogan stated the judgment \u2018may yet be regarded as among the most important which this court has been required to hear and determine in its almost 100-year history\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cFast forward three years, and the government has now published legislation that it says will facilitate the ratification of CETA.<\/p>\n
\u201cShamefully, given the importance of this issue \u2013 and the failed efforts of the government to ram though ratification of CETA before \u2013 government representatives on the Foreign Affairs Committee have voted against the committee doing pre-legislative scrutiny on the legislation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a disgraceful decision given the fraught legal background of this issue and the hugely controversial investor court system that ratification of CETA will usher in.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrucially, the free trade element of CETA \u2013 which has seen the reciprocal removal of nearly 99 per cent of tariffs between the EU and Canada \u2013 has applied since September 2017. So, any claims this was done to facilitate the trade element of the deal do not stand up to scrutiny.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact is, ratification of this deal will lead to an investor court system being established, which allow large corporations to leapfrog domestic and EU courts and take cases against governments to tribunals when policy decisions impact their bottom line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government sat back for three years and did nothing after the 2022 Supreme Court judgment and is now trying to use the cover of tariff wars to claim ratification of this deal is urgent. It is not.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven what is at stake \u2013 the creation of courts for corporations \u2013 the least the Irish people deserve is pre-legislative scrutiny of the government\u2019s Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Stephenson’s concerns are shared by another member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Senator Alice Mary Higgins, who has described the decision to waive pre-legislative scrutiny as “a disappointing abdication of due diligence, particularly given the strong and serious appeals for greater scrutiny from members of the public and civil society\u201d.<\/p>\n
The first PMB Senator Higgins brought in 2016 was a successful Seanad motion which highlighted the need to treat the trade and investor court components of CETA separately, a perspective later confirmed by the \u2018Singapore\u2019 ruling at the European Court of Justice.<\/p>\n
Senator Higgins said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe massive financial and societal implications; the fact that the government has already lost one Supreme Court case on this issue; and the unclear and untested language contained in the Arbitration Bill all point to the need for careful consideration. There is simply no justification for skipping scrutiny.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about trade because the trade component of CETA has already been happening for years under provisional application with no deadlines attached. The legislation and ratification being rushed through now are solely about the introduction of deeply controversial investor arbitration, with, as the Supreme Court has highlighted, significant implications for our sovereignty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not talking about some diplomatic gesture. Ratification would have heavy consequences in terms of exposing the State to millions, or even billions, in potential claims from corporations while exercising a chilling effect on new public policy in areas like health, housing, environment and employment.\u201d<\/p>\n
July 28, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government is attempting to ram through full ratification of the EU-Canada trade agreement (CETA), despite the Supreme Court finding their previous attempt to do so was unconstitutional, without any pre-legislative scrutiny, according to Social Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson Senator Patricia Stephenson. Two members of the Foreign Affairs Committee \u2013 Senator Stephenson and Senator Alice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[408,641,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","category-patricia-stephenson","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n