Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-09
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Alice-Mary Higgins (IND), National University of Ireland

Amendment No. 9 is the same point in respect of measures that are taken in relation to equality. In their public procurement decisions, the State and various bodies of the State, as public procurement falls within the remit of the CETA deal, have an obligation to ensure compliance with section 42 of the Human Rights and Equality Commission Act, in terms of a positive duty in respect of equality and human rights.
Where a policy or procurement decision is made, to ensure compliance with that duty on equality, such a decision should not be eligible for the enforcement of cases. It is just one specific example of the public interest. The Minister of State has still not really addressed the chilling effect and awards getting reduced if you change or modify the law - that text in CETA - and the question of where fair and equitable comes in. There is a concern not just in terms of the effect on laws but on other policy decisions of the State that may be seen not just as frustrating a reasonable expectation of profit but that they feel they have been unfairly or inequitably treated. They should never be able to make that claim in an instance where the decision was in terms of compliance with equality and they certainly should not be able to enforce such a claim. Equality measures have been the target of arbitration cases in the past. I mentioned those who sought compensation for the end of apartheid - companies saying that the end of apartheid messed up their expectations and they believed it unfair and inequitable to be treated in that way. It is a reasonable measure. I am not going to go into it at length because we do not have time but it is one example of a public interest matter.

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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