Sir, – The Tánaiste writes about the expected economic effects from four EU trade agreements with Korea, Mexico, Canada and Japan ("Ireland needs trade deal with Canada", Opinion & Analysis, April 28th).
However, given current debates about the investor court system under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta), he omits one critical detail about the report just published by his department. The overwhelming source of the claimed economic benefits (including over 90 per cent of the impact on Ireland’s GDP) is the agreement with Japan, which does not include Ceta’s system for investors to sue governments.
We can have trade agreements without giving preferential rights to investors, and we can criticise Ceta without denying the economic benefits of international trade.
The fact that this report estimates the economic impact of Ceta without making any reference at all to the investor court system underlines this point.
It might perhaps have been more helpful if the Government’s economic analysis addressed those aspects of this agreement that opponents are actually criticising. – Yours, etc,
Dr OISIN SUTTLE,
Department of Law,
Maynooth University,
Maynooth,
Co Kildare.