EU Summits
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-27
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Duncan Smith (LAB), Dublin Fingal East

In this time of global uncertainty, it is important we diversify and build up relationships with other countries. The Taoiseach's attendance at the EU-African Union summit is one instance of this, as was his visit to Canada to meet Prime Minister Carney. A lot has been made of Prime Minister Carney's speech at Davos last week. While building up relationships is important, it cannot come at the expense of our values. The current CETA trade deal with Canada does so. I am specifically talking about the investor courts aspect of it. The Arbitration (Amendment) Bill will be brought before us in the next couple of months. Canada has removed the investor courts from its renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. Will the Taoiseach please divert course in terms of Ireland and lobby within the EU to have the investor courts removed from this CETA trade deal? Perhaps the spirit of Carney's speech might be used to negotiate with him in that regard.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:01+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-27