Green Party councillors defy leadership to demand convention on Ceta trade deal

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan. Picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins

Two thirds of elected Green Party councillors have voted that the party should have a national convention on the controversial Ceta trade deal.

Four Ceta motions are going to the Green Party policy council this weekend, including one by the local-government group of councillors, who needed a two-thirds majority in order to submit the motion.

The party has been divided this week over a Government bill to pass Ceta.

The free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union was due to be ratified in the Dáil after a 55-minute debate on Tuesday.

The vote will now not go ahead until January after some Green TDs said they would not vote for it. The party have actively campaigned against Ceta since 2016.

If ratified, Ceta would allow corporations to sue the Irish State through an 'investor court system’ over regulatory decisions that negatively impact their profits, which could have negative consequences for climate legislation.

The motions, sent via email by outgoing policy chairman Harry McEvansonya, and seen by the Irish Examiner are:

• Motion from local-government group: That executive committee will call a special national convention on the Green Party/Comhaontas Glas Oireachtas parliamentary party proposal to vote in favour of ratification of Ceta;
• Emergency motion from Just Transition Greens: The Green Party believes that granting investors exclusive rights outside of the normal courts system to sue countries is an affront to democracy, and contrary to Article 34.3 of the Irish Constitution. For this reason, the Green Party should not support the ratification of Ceta;
• The emergency motion from Kildare Greens calls for a full debate to be held on the mechanisms for resolving disputes between investors and national governments, such as the investor court system, before any vote is held in the Oireachtas;
• The emergency motion from Dublin Bay South Greens (the constituency group of party leader Eamon Ryan) reiterates its existing policy of opposition to Ceta and is "mindful that there is no immediate urgency to decide this issue in the Dáil", and requests a postponement, pending full Oireachtas oversight.

As the policy council cannot itself call a special national convention or a debate mechanism, the motions, if passed, will be considered advisory to the executive committee.

If five constituency group chairs sign up to a special convention request, the party must hold one. Two have made their opposition to Ceta known in the policy agenda.

Party sources say that ministers "don't seem to want to engage with the fact we have an existing policy", and "are worried enough that this could be close, and they don't want any debate taking place where the party hierarchy isn't seen to be on the same side as the environmentalists".

The parliamentary party had a meeting last night, however Ceta was not mentioned.

During the week, Green Party ministers sent an open letter to members telling them that Ceta must be ratified due to Brexit sensitivities, a claim which TD Neasa Hourigan labelled "a nonsense".