Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. It appears that technologies evolve very fast and the uses of different data or electronic means also evolve very fast. How do the witnesses keep the list up to date with the potential applications that people can find as we move to the Internet of things and so forth? It seems that it is going to be a constantly moving target and one could almost conceive of any product having a potential use in the hands of particular groups. How does that work?

I know that at EU level there has always been this issue about national competence versus EU competence. There has always been a to-and-fro tugging as to whether there should be overriding EU competence for larger transactions, whether one can appeal from one to the other or whether national competence in certification or licensing in one country should prevail in other member states. Has that been an issue of controversy in this territory or how does national competence and EU competence overlap?