People Before Profit claim deal will be a disaster for environmental measures needed to avert catastrophic climate change
People Before Profit have called on Green Party TDs to reject a Government move to ratify the CETA agreement this week in the Dáil. The trade agreement is opposed by a range of environmental, labour and climate activists’ groups in Ireland and across Europe.
Speaking ahead of a Dáil vote tomorrow Richard Boyd Barrett TD made a direct appeal to Green Party TDs reject the Government motion which he said was “a sleight of hand at the end of the Dáil term to push in a trade deal which has profound implications for Ireland’s public services and for the necessary actions to tackle climate crisis.”
He said: “I have stood on platforms and participated in debates with Green Party TDs over recent years and together we have highlighted the profound threat to our environment and public services posed by this deal. I am appealing to them today to reject this vote on Tuesday. This deal will enormously strengthen the rights of corporations over the needs of the public to access key public services and it will make it impossible to achieve the kind of measures we need to take to deal with the climate crisis.”
The TD pointed to the limited sectors included on Ireland’s negative lists (the list of protected sectors from the treaty’s provisions) compared to other states, saying this showed that the Government had not sought to protect key sectors from the effects of this deal.
The TD also highlight a “ratchet mechanism” in the deal which he said would make it impossible for the state to remunicipalise key industries such as waste collection or to expand public provision in sectors such as elderly care in the years ahead.
“But the worst aspect of this and similar deals is that they will make it more difficult to take the kinds of actions we need to take to deal with the climate crisis, it will make it more difficult to legislate against the importation of products based on the Tar Sands or other hugely damaging fossil full products.”
