A constitutional referendum would be needed to ratify the proposed multi-billion euro transatlantic trade deal between the European Union and US, says a legal expert.

When voices as diverse as Greenpeace, the Irish Farmers’ Association, and some of Britain’s most eccentric Colonel Blimp champions of Brexit agree, and when Europe’s trades union and France’s Front National’s Marine Le Pen find common cause, it is time to sit up and take notice. 

CANVASSING a voter at the recent general election in Dublin I was told that TTIP was responsible for water charges. When I tried to dissuade the person, in explaining that actually TTIP wasn’t in place and had nothing to do with water charges, I was told “that I wouldn’t believe you anyway”.

RECENT high-profile leaks have drawn attention to the shroud of secrecy and lack of democratic accountability that surrounds negotiations between the European Commission and the US government on the so-called transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP).

Opponents fear TTIP trade-offs with the US will lead to a race to the bottom on standards — particularly on food safety, climate, and workers’ rights. Sorcha Ní Coileáin reports.

Supporters of a major free trade deal aimed at boosting trade in goods and services between the US and EU find themselves on the defensive following another big leak of secret documents.

There is a clear resonance between the fears expressed by Greenpeace regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the fears expressed in the report on debt by the Debt and Development Coalition Ireland (DDCI).

A sweeping free trade deal being negotiated between the European Union and the US would lower food safety and environmental standards, environmental campaign group Greenpeace said yesterday, citing confidential documents from the talks.

A protest against a proposed trade agreement between the EU and the USA is taking place in Dublin city this afternoon.

US President Barack Obama has been strangled by Republican Congressional majorities but is still on the verge of sealing his legacy on the international front, writes Andrew Hammond.

Fears over the number of workers that would be displaced as a result of a proposed transatlantic trade agreement are unjustified and pale in significance when compared to the natural rise and fall of Irish industries, the jobs minister claimed yesterday.

A vote on approving a major free trade agreement between the EU and the United States has been delayed.