Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-09 ============================================================ Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East At the outset, I will briefly return to first principles, because they are not as obvious as some make out, and the reasons behind this legislation. The Arbitration (Amendment) Bill seeks to put Ireland, a country which so greatly benefits from international trade, into a position where we can ratify the range of EU trade and investment agreements that we massively benefit from as an EU member state. It is not the case of international capital taking money from Ireland. If you look at our tax returns, it is the case of international capital investing money in Ireland, which can be seen in our tax returns and in some of the stories that were published this week. Ireland massively benefits from this and it is very much in our national interest to support trade agreements. The EU-Canada trade agreement has been scrutinised rigorously, including as part of this legislation, but at length in other forums too, including in the Oireachtas, over the past ten years. Free trade benefits the Irish economy, and while it has been said, flippantly in some ways, that we all agree with free trade, that is actually not the case at the global international level at present. Free trade is under significant pressure. The economic system that has delivered massive investment and massive tax receipts into this country is under severe pressure because there are people out there who do not want free trade. There is quite a train of thought in the US, not only at the presidential level, that does not agree with free trade. In Ireland, we can demonstrate unequivocally that free trade has benefited this country and we should be always sending a signal that we are open to investment from business, because that has what has generated wealth in this country. It is a time of global turbulence. It is an important signal for Ireland to seek to ratify trade agreements with Canada, Chile and Mexico, which provide Irish companies and exporters with new opportunities to expand and grow trade overseas. It is not only about investment here. It is about those Irish companies going abroad as well. Our trade and investment relationship with Canada is deep and growing, with over €12 billion in trade. I am convinced this will continue fantastically well. I am conscious of claims made that we should not be concerned with ratifying CETA, as the parts that provide for trading are provisionally applied. Provisional application is an important mechanism that allows companies and consumers to benefit from a trade agreement at an early stage, but if the agreement is not ratified or if anyone rejects it, it falls, as do the trade parts; those benefits to the Irish economy fall. We saw the global reaction - I will not say "panic" - when President Trump imposed tariffs. We all knew of the impact that could have on our economy, our jobs and our tax receipts. When we are opening for trade, we should also be conscious of that. I am also conscious there are political differences, and that some people do not believe in the free market economy. However, the fact of the matter is the free market economy, with all its flaws, is what has provided wealth to unprecedented numbers of people. If we look back to the 1970s when we really did not have any trade agreements, and when we look at the type of accommodation my parents lived in when they were young, we are a world away from that and from our pre-trade days. When I look at the Acting Chairperson's area in Galway East and the impact of some international trade there, I often cite the Valeo factory in Tuam, which has approximately 1,000 people working there. It is part of the global motor industry, serving every market except, I think, China. Every single market in the world is done from Tuam, and it can only do that because we are part of the European Union, which negotiates trade agreements----- --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-09/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:01+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-09