Ratification of EU-Canada trade deal will 'damage' the climate movement, says Green TD

Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan has set herself on a collision course with party leader Eamon Ryan who gave his backing to the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement in the Dáil this month. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Ratification of the controversial EU-Canada trade deal will “damage” the climate movement and weaken the powers of politicians to protect their voters, a leading Green Party TD has said.

Dublin Central TD Neasa Hourigan has set herself on a collision course with her own party leader Eamon Ryan who has given his backing to the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (Ceta) in the Dáil this month.

The vote on the deal was postponed before Christmas as Mr Ryan faced opposition from within his own ranks, despite assurances being given to Taoiseach Micheál Martin that he would be able to carry it.

Outlining her continued opposition to the Ceta deal, Ms Hourigan told the Irish Examiner: “The introduction of investor-state courts for the first time in Ireland will fundamentally shift the balance of power away from communities and into the hands of multinational corporations.

Allowing big business to sue our people for profits loss will damage the climate movement and our ability to legislate for the wellbeing of the people we represent.

“The stakes couldn't be higher —  protecting people and the environment from corporate profiteering has always been a basic principle of green politics. This is how we should spend our political capital in coalition government,” she said.

Her Dáil colleague, Patrick Costello, is also said to be strongly against backing the deal as are a number of the party’s councillors.

The Green Party has held a series of online meetings for members to discuss the EU’s trade deal.

However, there are no plans for members to vote on the party’s position, and the party leadership intends to apply the party whip to ensure TDs support the agreement.

Internal opponents of the deal insist the party never signed up to back the agreement during the programme for government negotiations with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

However, the party leadership and most of the parliamentary party believe that the Greens are committed to supporting the deal as part of the coalition deal.

The programme for government says that the three parties will “support new and existing EU trade deals to expand Ireland’s export options into new markets”.

Likely to quit

Meanwhile, the Green cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county council has said she is likely to quit the party if it backs the controversial Ceta trade deal in the Dáil.

The party leadership has played down these concerns and said the agreement explicitly protects the rights of governments to pass new environmental and labour laws.

Una Power, cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown council, told the Business Post that she remains opposed to Ceta and was disillusioned to think that most of the party’s TDs would vote for it. 

“It leaves me feeling that this is not a green party anymore,” she said.

Asked if she would remain in the party if its TDs backed Ceta, she responded: “I don’t think so.”

In her comments, Ms Power rejected arguments that the party should ratify the trade deal in order to concentrate on its core policies in the programme for government.

“There’s this talk that we need to keep our political capital for the next fight but we need to stop thinking about our political capital and start thinking about it as political muscle. If we don’t use it, it atrophies,” she said.