The joint interpretative instruments states: CETA preserves the ability of the European Union and its Member States and Canada to adopt and apply their own laws and regulations that regulate economic activity in the public interest, to achieve legitimate public policy objectives such as the protection and promotion of public health, social services, public education, safety, the environment, public morals, social or consumer protection, privacy and data protection and the promotion and protection of cultural divers…

Senator McDowell knows right well that the unconstitutionality did not relate to the right to regulate.

I am very happy to answer all these questions and discuss all these matters on Committee Stage.

There was no suggestion the smoky coal ban was the victim of some international treaty because it is in force, as brought in under the previous Government. A lot is going on. I read the email that has been circulated this evening. It certainly does not relate to the reality of what is in the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. There is no reality to that. Each state's right to regulate is expressly provided for in the treaty and the various documents. I look forward to taking this to Committee Sta…

I am committed to a full debate on Committee Stage but it is a priority for the democratically elected Government-----

It is a fact that it is a priority for the democratically elected Government of this State directly elected by the people-----

I have not made any such suggestion.

I have directly contradicted all of the allegations made by the Opposition in this case. I will do so-----

I will happily do so and try to persuade them of where they have gone wrong. Clearly things went wrong before, the Supreme Court declared that and gave a pathway. We are doing our utmost to comply with the advice or suggestions of the Supreme Court with this Arbitration (Amendment) Bill to allow us in Dáil Éireann to ratify the CETA trade agreement. I will make one more point on if we were to decide not to ratify. This is the big question. The Senator said it does not matter if we do not ratify. If we did not, we w…

Today, as we pursue a constitutional obligation to ratify an international agreement, we have an opportunity to say "No" by saying "Yes" and voting "Tá". We have an opportunity to say "No" to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression, to death and destruction with impunity, to rewarding Russia for stealing Ukrainian land and the forcible removal of Ukrainian children and to inflicting unspeakable suffering and damage without consequence and to say "Yes" to justice, consequences, responsibility, reparati…

Deputy Kenny should tell him that she does not have an army.

We got them this morning. It is all happening.

Regarding Sudan, it is not that Kaja Kallas made comments yesterday. It is that the foreign Ministers discussed the issue of Sudan yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Council, and Kaja Kallas, as the high representative, spoke on behalf of all the governments. While it was discussed at the European Council recently, although not directly at the last one, it has been on the agenda of foreign Ministers on a regular basis. We share the Deputy’s concerns about Sudan, and there is no question about that. The Taoiseach has …

The digital omnibus is something the Government supports. What members of the European Parliament do is a matter for them. Just because they might not support an initial proposal does not mean they will not try to amend it and agree to it at the end. We will leave the European parliamentarians to do that job. They do an excellent job. That is one side of the democratic process, and the governments are on the other side of the democratic process in the European Union in terms of enacting this legislation. We have a …

What we are doing was announced by the Minister yesterday. We were pushing to have this agreement suspended, but it was not possible to reach an agreement. With regard to the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe, that matter is a separate from the European Council. We are strong supporters and strong activists in the Council of Europe, as a government. I am meeting the General Secretary, Mr. Berset, this week. We will continue to support the Council of Europe and all of its work. In relatio…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of Hungary. A new government has been elected, but it has not actually been appointed by the parliament yet. The party has been elected with a massive vote, but even before that, the outgoing government this morning dropped the veto on the €90 billion loan to Ukraine, and dropped the veto together with Slovakia on the 20th sanctions package. We very much welcome this. The approach that we will have to Hungary is, frankly, one that gives value to the votes of the people of Hu…

The issue with regard to the European Council and the Foreign Affairs Council on the EU-Israel association agreement is as I said it was, namely, that the Irish Government has engaged with member states to try to bring forward a proposal which is sitting there but needs to be supported by a sufficient number of member states. However, we are not able to do that. That is a fact. I would encourage - we are doing this and we encourage everyone else to do it - is engagement with other member states to see why they do n…

Is this on the Mercosur agreement?

The case has been brought by the European Parliament against the Commission. The practice, and this is a decision for the Commission and the member states which supported it, is to implement the trade provisions of the Mercosur agreement, whenever that happens in the coming period of time, notwithstanding the fact that we voted against it. There are measures to protect farmers, particularly beef farmers in the case of price shocks-----

The case is between the European Parliament and the European Commission.