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

The Minister of State is, given the language in the Bill.
The Minister of State talks about ten great years. Those are the ten great years of provisional application, which we have already had, which we are already applying and which are currently being gambled by the addition of an investor court component. I say that just to be clear. The Minister of State talked a lot about all of those issues but in his Bill he is not talking about that. It is stated that the Minister may, after consultation, prescribe an international agreement as an agreement to which the section applies. This is the section which states:
For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that an award made by a body empowered to make awards pursuant to an international agreement to which this section applies is not, and never was, enforceable in the State if enforcing the award would compromise—
(a) the constitutional order of the State, or
(b) the autonomy of the legal order of the European Union.
The Minister of State was saying that awards are not and never were enforceable in the State if enforcing them would compromise the constitutional order of the State or the autonomy of the legal order of the European Union. He also allows for the widening of this to future agreements. I am just asking does that apply to the Energy Charter Treaty? Is it the case that awards in the Energy Charter Treaty were never enforceable if they compromised the Constitution or EU law? The experience we have of arbitration bodies is solely through the energy treaty. It is a very relevant example. Is it the case that there never was, or not? We know cases are being taken against Ireland on the Energy Charter Treaty. We know the Minister failed to deny the fact that the Energy Charter Treaty had influence and had been a factor when making and considering laws. I refer to that chilling effect we have talked about in the past. That is our experience. That is the relevant, happening-right-now experience Ireland has and I wish to know where that fits within this High Court piece. Does the High Court enforce or not enforce orders made under the Energy Charter Treaty, which Ireland has exited?

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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