Ms Clare McNamara:

I am not quite sure I understand the Senator's question. A cross-border representative action is possible in any member state. That is one of the aspects of this Bill. We have to allow for recognition of cross-border qualified entities to take actions in Ireland, and vice versa, an Irish qualified entity could take an action in another member state.

The Senator talked about a lot of discretion in this directive. There is actually very little discretion in this directive for member states. It is pretty much maximum harmonisation. The only real discretion we have is on the funding of the qualified entities and the opt in or opt out.

On settlements, the court can refuse a settlement, but there is a mandatory settlement for consumers in this once a settlement is arrived at. The directive would apply exactly the same in every member state. I am not quite sure I understood that last part of the Senator’s question, on moving from one jurisdiction to another because it is the same directive across the EU. It will apply in the same way.