Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20
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Chris Andrews (SF), Labour Panel

First, I wish to put on the record that Sinn Féin is completely opposed to this legislation and we will vote against it on every single Stage. I commend my colleague and former Member of this House, MEP Lynn Boylan, as well as her staff, on the work they have done on this Bill. They have shone a light on the potential impact of both this legislation and CETA on this country. This is a Bill with far-reaching implications. If enacted, it will undermine the sovereignty of our courts, workers’ rights and environmental protections. It has been shamefully rushed through the Oireachtas. The Government is playing with fire with this legislation. There must be proper scrutiny. Countless international authorities have highlighted that investor courts have huge potential implications for the environment, for workers’ rights and, fundamentally, for sovereignty.
This Bill will take decisions, which would otherwise be under the jurisdiction of an Irish court, and place them clearly with an international investor court, over which we have absolutely no oversight or control. This will be disastrous for the Irish people and only serve to benefit multinational corporations. Given the Government’s policy on housing, that is probably no surprise. It will create problems that do not currently exist, further hollow out our democracy and popular sovereignty and take crucial decisions away from the people.
There is no reason for the Government to be so frantic to rush this through, considering that nine other EU states have not ratified CETA. When it comes to holding Israel to account, the Government always talks about the need to act in unison, work together and achieve consensus. Yet, this is an example where the Government is rushing ahead. The absolute last thing this country needs is to hand even more power over to multinationals that seem to hold almost all of the levers of power already. Sinn Féin will continue to oppose CETA. I urge the Government to grant appropriate time on this Stage to this vital debate.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-20/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-20