Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

It is not an ICSID tribunal, for a start. All of the rules around the right to regulate, the right for the state to do what it wishes in relation to public services, housing and all the public good that a state does, are not in any way impacted by this. This is not a return to the old system. It is simply about applying rules within the new system.
Everything else we discussed applies within the new, reformed system of the investor courts. It is factually wrong to state that investors have a choice to go to the old system. That is not the case under the treaty. I am happy to provide this clarification, but we really need to knock this on the head.
Many comparisons have been raised between the old system and the new system. Part of the reason these changes were made was because of concerns raised about the old system. To overcome those concerns, reforms have been put into the new system of investor courts. As the CETA joint interpretative instrument states about the new system, "CETA represents an important and radical change in investment rules and dispute resolution." Putting forward in the Seanad that, somehow, there is a way around that is just not correct. It is simply factually incorrect.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-28