High Court begins hearing Sinn Féin MEP’s challenge to EU-Canada free trade deal

A three-judge division of the High Court has begun hearing a challenge by Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan over a law enabling the ratification of the Canada-European Union trade deal.

The case, which is also being brought by Boylan’s parliamentary assistant Sárán Fogarty, is against the Government of Ireland and the attorney general.

Arguments on behalf of the plaintiffs were made by barristers John Rogers and Eileen Barrington on Tuesday. Attorney General Rossa Fanning, with barrister Michael Cush, will make the case for the Government.

The case concerns the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (Ceta), which was ratified in Ireland earlier this year by the enactment of the Arbitration (Amendment) Act 1926.

Arguments on behalf of Boylan centred on the interpretation of certain provisions of the Ceta agreement and the treatment of investors, which Boylan has said leaves the State liable to being sued by big businesses.

The defendants reject the claims.

The High Court is being asked by the Boylan side to refer to a 2022 Supreme Court decision in which Ceta was previously blocked after then Green Party TD Patrick Costello challenged the ratification of the agreement.

The court ruled that parts of the the deal would infringe the Constitution, stopping ratification in its tracks.

It said that investor-state arbitration schemes in Ceta were not compatible with the Constitution. Such schemes − designed to settle disputes between states and investors − bypassed the role of Irish courts, which would be powerless to respond to an award granted by a Ceta tribunal, the court held.

The Government says the 2026 act addresses issues identified by the Supreme Court relating to the investor-courts system.

The Act also enables ratification of other international agreements containing similar investor dispute resolution provisions, including with Chile.

The free trade elements of the Ceta agreement, which included an abolition of almost all tariffs previously in place between Canada and the EU, have been provisionally in place since 2017.

The case continues before the president of the High Court, Judge David Bareniville, Judge Cian Fereriter, and Judge Rory Mulcahy.