London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Ireland’s top court rejects Canada-EU trade deal as unconstitutional

Ireland’s top court rejects Canada-EU trade deal as unconstitutional

Supreme Court judges say Ireland’s parliament can approve the CETA deal only if it first amends national arbitration law, a victory for rebel Green lawmakers.
Ireland’s parliamentary efforts to ratify the EU-Canada trade deal are unconstitutional, the Irish Supreme Court ruled Friday in the first such legal rejection by an EU member state.

The judgment, broadcast live online, raised divisions within Ireland’s three-party coalition government, which requires support from the environmentalist Green Party to survive.

The case against the government’s ratification of CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) was taken by a Green lawmaker, Patrick Costello. He argued that the treaty’s provisions for external arbitration of trade disputes between Canada and EU member states would require an unconstitutional transfer of state authority.

By a 4-3 majority, Ireland’s ultimate arbiter over the country’s 1937 constitution partly agreed with Costello. However, a 6-1 majority found that Ireland’s parliament could proceed to ratify the deal — once the country’s Arbitration Act has been amended to permit such transfers of power.

Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who is also Ireland’s trade minister, expressed disappointment with the verdict but said Ireland remains determined to ensure the treaty’s “ratification in full.”

“Our initial assessment is that a referendum is not required and that ratification can follow once some changes are made to domestic law,” said Varadkar, who noted that the treaty had expanded Canadian markets for more than 400 Irish companies.

Costello welcomed his legal win as an “incredible day” that protects “the integrity of our courts system and our constitution” and would further delay, if not permanently block, ratification in Ireland.

Most of the treaty’s rules already have been provisionally applied across the EU, allowing the vast majority of Canadian goods to be imported tariff-free.

Some Irish Greens last year broke with the government’s pro-treaty position, including their own party leaders. The rebels argued that external arbitration of future disputes could force Ireland to accept lower environmental standards observed by Canadian firms in violation of Ireland’s legal commitments to EU climate change goals. Costello’s lawsuit put a halt to government plans to ratify the treaty in parliament last year.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×