Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-28
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Sarah O'Reilly (AON), Agricultural Panel

Before I address amendment No. 12, I want to respond briefly to comments made by the Minister of State during the previous debate. He accused me, and only me among all of those who spoke, of presenting information that was factually incorrect regarding CETA. I was not given an opportunity to reply at the time. He quoted from Article 8.9(2) but conveniently omitted the exception in the agreement to which I was explicitly referring. The agreement states:
When applying the above fair and equitable treatment obligation, the Tribunal may take into account whether a Party made a specific representation to an investor to induce a covered investment, that created a legitimate expectation, and upon which the investor relied in deciding to make or maintain the covered investment, but that the Party [which can be the Government] subsequently frustrated.
That is not my interpretation. It is the text of the agreement itself.
My concern is straightforward. What exactly constitutes a "legitimate expectation"? What constitutes that expectation being frustrated? If one government encourages investment under one policy framework and a future government changes legislation in the public interest, could that become grounds for a compensation claim? These are exactly the kinds of arguments that have been made under ISDS mechanisms globally. That is why this matters so much.
Turning to the amendment itself, I stress that this proposal is not substantially different from the Government's own drafting. In fact, it largely reflects the assurances repeatedly given verbally by the Minister of State during the debate. The amendment simply adds an explicit safeguard, stating that no award should be enforceable where it would materially impair the capacity of the State to legislate or regulate the public interest. If he is sincere in his assurances that Ireland's right to regulate will remain fully protected, there should be absolutely no reason to oppose the amendment. It merely copper-fastens in legislation what the Government claims is guaranteed. This amendment is about protecting democracy and sovereignty, protecting future governments and ensuring that no arbitration mechanism can undermine the ability of this State to legislate in the interests of its own people.

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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