Minutes:
It was proposed by Councillor C Cuffe and seconded by Councillor P Hand
“This Council believes that:
(a) The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could have a detrimental impact on local services, employment, suppliers and decision-making
(b) A thorough impact assessment of TTIP on local authorities must be undertaken before the negotiations can be concluded.
(c) The proposed Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) used by corporations to overturn democratic decisions by all levels of governments at significant public cost. Local decision-making must be protected from ISDS.
(d) The EU’s food, environmental and labour standards are generally better than those in the US and TTIP negotiations must raise and not lower these standards across the EU and USA.
(e) Sourcing supplies and employment locally is important to strengthening local economies and meeting local needs. TTIP must not impact on local authorities’ ability to act in the best interests its communities.
This Council resolves:
(a) To write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charles Flanagan TD and all Dublin MEPs raising our serious concerns about the impact of TTIP on local authorities and the secrecy of the negotiating process.
(b) To write to the Association of Irish Local Government to raise our serious concerns about the impact of TTIP on local authorities and ask them to raise these with government on our behalf.
(c) To call for an impact assessment on the impact of TTIP on local authorities.
(d) To publicise the council’s concerns about TTIP; join with other local authorities which are opposed to TTIP across Europe and work with local campaigners to raise awareness about the problems of TTIP.
An amendment to this motion was put forward by Councillor P Hand and seconded by Councillor C Cuffe and a further amendment was put by Councillor Cuffe and seconded by Councillor Hand. The amended motion as follows was then put to a roll call vote and carried. For full details of this vote, see Appendix F to these minutes.
This Council believes that:
a) The proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) could have a detrimental impact on local services, employment, suppliers and decision- making.
b) A thorough impact assessment of TTIP/(CETA) on local authorities must be undertaken before the negotiations can be concluded.
c) The proposed Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) used by corporations to overturn democratic decisions by all levels of governments at significant public cost. Local decision-making must be protected from ISDS.
d) The EU’s food, environmental and labour standards are generally better than those in the US/Canada and TTIP/(CETA) negotiations must raise and not lower these standards across the EU and USA/Canada.
e) Sourcing supplies and employment locally is important to strengthening local economies and meeting local needs. TTIP/(CETA) must not impact on local authorities’ ability to act in the best interests its communities.
This Council resolves:
a) To write to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charles Flanagan TD and all Dublin MEPs raising our serious concerns about the impact of TTIP/(CETA) on local authorities and the secrecy of the negotiating process.
b) To write to the Association of Irish Local Government to raise our serious concerns about the impact of TTIP/(CETA) on local authorities and ask them to raise these with government on our behalf.
c) To call for an impact assessment on the impact of TTIP/(CETA) on local authorities.
d) To publicise the council’s concerns about TTIP/(CETA); join with other local authorities which are opposed to TTIP across Europe and work with local campaigners to raise awareness about the problems of TTIP/(CETA) and to oppose the proposed agreement in its current form