Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be an international agreement initially. An international agreement is not automatically part of our domestic law. Our courts system is provided for in the Constitution. One of the key articles is Article 34. What we would effectively do by becoming a party to this is agreeing that a litigious matter in the courts that is currently part of the exclusive jurisdiction of our High Court be transferred to another court that may not even sit in this country. Due to the way the Constitution is formulated even the agreement by unanimous vote of every single Deputy and Senator cannot effect a change in the Constitution. The exclusive jurisdiction granted to the High Court in these matters will have to be amended in a referendum by people agreeing that patent issues can be determined in the European Patent Court.