On Tuesday, December 15th, the government plans to ram through a vote on a major business deal which would be a huge blow to the environment – contact your local Green Party TD and tell them to vote NO.
The CETA deal would allow multinational corporations to sue states for loss of profits – including future profits.
If the Irish government were to ban the importation of fracked gas from Canada or insist that any company tendering for a public contract could not use an offshore account to dodge taxes, they could be sued.
A corporation need only hire top layers to argue that the regulations were ‘burdensome’ for free trade.
Imagine the negative impact this might have – particularly on environmental policy.
The Irish government are trying to sneak it past quickly in the last week before the Dáil breaks for Christmas.
They’re trying not to draw attention to it, particularly for the Green Party who could be very embarrassed by this, given that it is such a glaring contradiction of their supposed environmental values.
CETA is a major business deal which has been negotiated between the EU and Canada. It stands for Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and run to over 1,500 pages.
When Eamon Ryan was in opposition he stood with Richard Boyd Barrett TD and others in opposing CETA. His words sum up exactly why every TD should vote against the deal.
‘The way it was conducted, the way it was negotiated, the way that it was really centred around lobbying by big corporate interests rather than the public interest is wrong’.
As evidence he pointed to the proposed role of the Investment Court System. This gives corporations more power over citizens by allowing them to sue national government for loss of profits – including loss of future profits.
Trade agreements or TTIP before that are really only a cover through which big business lobbies for more ‘freedom’ to stop regulation.
Contact your local Green Party TD and urge them to oppose this agreement tomorrow.
