Mr. Eamonn Confrey:

The first of the three questions related to the timeline. As I have indicated, the general scheme was approved in mid-December 2021. Since that time, and in advance of it, we have been engaged in intensive discussion with the Office of the Attorney General and others on the development of the scheme. I may be corrected by my colleagues on this but, at the moment, the legislation is on the Government's priority programme and we are working towards a timeline of early April for the expected publication of the Bill. That is certainly our understanding and expectation based on our interaction with the Attorney General's office. I assure the Deputy that the Bill is being given a very high priority. In fact, the Attorney General himself has been heavily involved in much of the discussion on this. It is worth saying that there are three pieces of legislation in this area moving through the Oireachtas at the moment: this Bill; the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2022, which was published in January; and the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2022, which was published a number of weeks later and to which the Bill before us today is very closely aligned. It is a question for the Government and the Attorney General to make sure the regimes that are being introduced as are aligned as possible.

I will pass over to my colleague, Mr. Hickey, in a second to take the Deputy through the implications of the Zalewski case he mentioned. Making sure the regime being brought forward is legally robust and can withstand challenge is quite high in the Attorney General's mind. Reading into the Deputy's third point, on whether we support the request from ComReg, what we are ultimately seeking to achieve is a regime that is robust and enforceable but also workable and appropriate for the market that is being regulated. I will pass over to Mr. Hickey on the specifics of the Zalewski case.