Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú said the report on CETA produced and released this afternoon by the Joint Committee shows ‘there is a 50/50 split between those who want it to be put to the Oireachtas and those, like myself and my colleague John Brady TD, who believe it would be madness to sign up to it’.

Teachta Ó Murchú said:

“The Investment Court System (ICS) and CETA (Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement) between the EU and Canada would hamstring the state and leave it open to being sued by greedy corporations.

“The ICS element would have that chilling effect on the basis that the state would leave itself open to being sued because corporations have the ‘legitimate’ expectation of profit as a result of the agreement.

“If we want to introduce legislation for the public good, for example on climate change or anything else, we cannot allow ourselves to be hampered by this.

“Most of the trade-related elements of CETA are already in operation but ratification would mean we would have to swallow the whole hog of ICS.

“The government didn’t even convince all of its own Joint Committee members to put CETA before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

“It would be madness to sign up to CETA. The debates in the Joint Committee, coupled with today’s report, show that there are deep and real concerns that have not been resolved even after hours of testimony from expert witnesses.”