Ireland must fight against European rollback on environmental and human rights protections, say Soc Dems

Ireland must fight EU attempts to erode environmental and human rights protections after the European Parliament voted to exempt more companies from green reporting rules, according to the Social Democrats.

Sinéad Gibney TD, the party’s enterprise spokesperson, said:

“A majority of MEPs recently voted to rollback crucial human rights and environmental protections in favour of a deregulation agenda,” she noted.

“With the omnibus package aimed at gutting the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence directive now proceeding to trialogues between the EU Council, Commission and Parliament, it is vital that the government fulfils its commitments on achieving better regulation, not deregulation.

“Previously, Irish and European consumers had the chance to know that the products they buy and the services they avail of are not the product of human rights violations, environmental violations, or other crimes across the world.

“It is not unreasonable that big companies should have to do due diligence on what happens in their supply chains when they are making millions of euros a year. The Minister for Enterprise needs to be clear in any input from Ireland into the trialogues that the key pillars of the directive must be protected.

“Cutting and slashing the effectiveness of the directive doesn’t make the rules simpler. It just results in a tangled mess of deregulation through which big business can avoid accountability, leaving SMEs to navigate a piecemeal system. We need the government to step up and defend the directive, in line with the commitments made at home and the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise.”

Senator Patricia Stephenson, who is the party’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, said:

“I am deeply concerned that reassurances given in the Oireachtas are not reflected at European level.

“Speaking in the Seanad, Minister Neale Richmond said core provisions of the directive would be fought for and protected by this government. Yet Fine Gael MEPs voted alongside right-wing and far-right parties in the European Parliament to dismantle it.

“The consequences of this omnibus package will be dire. These new deregulation policies will undermine the work we do across the Global South in defending communities from exploitation and environmental injustice.

“For consumers in Ireland, it means we no longer have any guarantees that our clothes and products aren’t having negative environmental consequences or made using forced or child labour.

“This is bad for Irish consumers who care about sustainability and social justice but it’s also a setback for our global climate goals.”