Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

It is not the case that this legislation provides that provision. It is incorrect of the Minister of State to suggest that the Government has been clear in our legislation that it is possible to sign up to any international agreement where that agreement provides for the making of awards pursuant to investment dispute resolution provisions. It does not state which investment dispute resolution provisions. The Minister of State is asking that we trust the Government because he is sure the investment dispute resolutions will be wonderful. He is saying that about this Government and every future Government until infinity, because there is a 20-year exit clause. He is saying there will always be better investment dispute resolution mechanisms. There is a workaround, which is the fact that it can be done under this Bill. The right to regulate, which we have said we will come back to, is a red herring because the question is not about the right to regulate. That has not been compromised by previous trade agreements. What has been compromised is the effective ability to regulate without an unknown and incredibly dissuasive and dangerous cost being attached to that regulation.
Again, there is fair and equitable language in the old agreements too. What is also in CETA is an allowance that the old rules can be applied. That set of rules has given us many judgments that are very problematic. The language the Minister of State referred to concerning the right to regulate and being fair and equitable does absolutely nothing to address that-----

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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