Agreement reached on hearing over EU-Canada trade dispute
High Court Reporter
An agreement has been reached that a High Court hearing of a dispute over the ratification of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) can take place next October.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan and her parliamentary assistant, Sárán Fogarty, are seeking an injunction restraining the implementation of a law which would allow CETA to be ratified.
The law is the Arbitration (Amendment) Act 2026, was enacted after it was signed last week by President Catherine Connolly.
Two days later, Boylan and Fogarty brought a High Court application seeking an injunction against the Government preventing the ratification.
On Friday, Judge Brian Cregan was told by John Rogers, for Boylan and Fogarty, that the parties had agreed about how the case could proceed. It is estimated that it will last six days at the moment.
Counsel asked for a trial date on October 27th with a for-mention date on July 30th to confirm the expected duration.
Michael Cush, for the Government, said it was his side's intention not to ratify without first giving one day's notice.
Judge Cregan said he had been liaising with the President of the High Court in relation to this case, and it may be dealt with by him.
CETA was previously blocked by the Supreme Court in 2022, when then-Green Party TD Patrick Costello challenged – essentially against the policy of his own government – the ratification of the agreement.
It relates to the compatibility of Ceta investor-state arbitration schemes with the Constitution.
The court held the Irish courts would be powerless to respond to an award granted by a CETA tribunal as it then stood.
The court ruled that parts of the way the deal would work infringed the Constitution, stopping ratification in its tracks.
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.
