The Canada–EU trade deal, blocked by the Supreme Court four years ago, could be ratified before the summer.
The Government is keen the agreement, known as Ceta, will be ratified in time for a possible visit here by the Canadian prime minister Mark Carney in the early summer.
On Wednesday, the Government will bring legislation, already passed by the Dáil, to the Seanad which when passed will pave the way for the trade deal to be ratified. It will overrule Opposition concerns about a controversial system of investor courts, which are designed to settle disputes between States and investors.
The deal was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2022 when then Green Party TD Patrick Costello took a court challenge – essentially against the policy of his own government – to the ratification of the agreement.
The court ruled that parts of the way the deal would work infringed the Constitution, stopping ratification in its tracks. Unusually, however, Judge Gerard Hogan suggested in his judgment a constitutional fix involving legislation to change the Arbitration Act, effectively giving the High Court powers to approve decisions made under the trade agreement.
This bill, the Arbitration Amendment Bill, has already been passed by the Dáil and is expected to be approved by the Seanad in the coming weeks.
This would clear the way for the Ceta agreement to be then ratified quickly, understood to be the Government’s intention. That would require a separate vote in the Dáil.
The free trade elements of the Ceta agreement, which included an abolition of almost all tariffs previously in place between Canada and the EU, have been provisionally in place since 2017.
In that time, there has been more than a tripling of trade between Ireland and Canada, from €3 billion to €10 billion annually, and a quadrupling of the value of Irish exports.
However, Opposition politicians and some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have criticised aspects of the deal which they say would allow corporations to challenge social and environmental regulations in special tribunals.
“We have nothing to gain and much to lose,” said Independent Senator Alice Mary Higgins. “All the trade aspects of Ceta are already happening. The Arbitration Bill is entirely about the unnecessary and dangerous introduction of investor courts. This is a deeply reckless move from Government which creates massive avoidable financial risk and sabotages the ability of future governments and even future generations to deliver public policies that best serve the public interest.”
Minister of State for Europe Thomas Byrne. Photograph: Grainne Ni Aodha/PA Wire
Costello, who is no longer a TD, said it would be “a disaster” if the deal was ratified.
“This is not about trade,” he said. “To say ‘those opposed to Ceta are opposed to trade’ is a lie. This is about the investor courts inside Ceta.”
He said he expected someone will “definitely” launch another constitutional challenge to the deal, though he added it would not be him on this occasion.
But Minister of State for Europe Thomas Byrne, who is bringing the bill through the legislative process, disputed many of the claims made about the bill and the investor courts under the deal, suggesting they were “not realistic”.
“Ceta will have no impact on the State’s ability to provide social services, or housing, or implement environmental regulations. It’s important that Ireland continues to be a supporter of free trade,” he said.
During Dáil debates on the bill last month, Byrne repeatedly pointed out that the trade agreement expressly recognises states’ freedom to regulate to achieve policy goals.
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