Séamus Healy (Tipperary, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

A question was asked earlier on the opinions of the various contributors but our job is to listen to the opinions of people who have come before this committee. We will have to make a judgment individually and also as a committee regarding those opinions. I value any opinions this committee gets from either side.

It is clear from listening to the contributions of the Commission representatives that any reasonable and common sense reading of what they have outlined is that the Commission's position has been inconsistent, that it changed between 2010 and 2016 and, in my view, is now an openly and nakedly political position.

I have two questions, and Mr. Ciobanu-Dordea might answer the first one. Regarding the German case, the European Court of Justice held that the failure to put in place a pricing policy on a specific matter without any complaint that has resulted in a failure to meet the objectives of section 9.1 or the directive as a whole was not sufficient to establish a breach of Germany's obligations. Am I right in taking from that that the lack of a pricing policy did not make Germany in breach of the obligations?

My second question is to the same three gentlemen. Am I correct in saying that the question of full recovery of costs was in the original draft directive but it is not in the actual directive?