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

There are a number of points to be made. Again, I cannot go any further on the right to regulate. I have quoted it to almost everybody and there have been statements made by Supreme Court judges on it. Again, there are cases being quoted by Senators that do not relate to the type of system under CETA. There was a German case to which Senator Higgins referred on the issue of tax collection. The CETA tribunal will not be allowed to make such an order. It does not even arise. It does not even relate to the legislation. The remedies are limited in any event and it is important to say this.
Comments have been made about the provisions on fair and equitable treatment included in CETA. It is important to stress in this regard that the standard drafted under the new system is very different from the old approach. While the fair and equitable treatment provision under the old approach is generally opaque and based on customary international law with no description of the content, these newer agreements clearly list the aspects of fair and equitable treatment. These include the denial of justice, manifest arbitrariness or targeted discrimination on manifestly wrong grounds, such as gender, race or religious belief. ICS agreements provide clear guidance to dispute resolution tribunals on how these standards should be applied. The detail and clarity is one of the improvements of the new investor court system, from which nobody has quoted any case because they cannot do so, addressing concerns raised in relation to the long-standing ISDS system.
Reference has also been made at times to the joint committees in these agreements. CETA and similar agreements include administrative and institutional provisions that provide for the establishment of committees, such as the CETA joint committee, which are responsible for questions concerning trade and investment between the parties and the implementation and application of the agreements. A party may refer to the joint committee any issue relating to the implementation and interpretation of the agreement or any other issue concerning trade and investment between the parties. Where serious concerns arise with regard to matters of interpretation that may affect investment, a select committee may recommend to the CETA joint committee the adoption of interpretations of the agreement. An interpretation adopted by the joint committee is binding on the CETA tribunal.
The wording in the legislation these amendments seek to challenge is derived from the suggestion of Mr. Justice Hogan to the Oireachtas and the Government that if we wish to ratify the CETA agreement then without being prescriptive or putting any obligation on the Oireachtas the Government, this is a way that it could be done in accordance with the Constitution. We have taken the advice of the Attorney General.
Our lawyers have studied the judgment carefully in the round and drafted this legislation. I have described all it seeks to do and I cannot put the position any further.

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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