Mr. Aidan Sweeney:

The key thing is that from 2014 timing was against us. Brexit had happened. That was what caused the process to go into some stasis because we did not know. The UK was so central, hosting one of the central division courts, as a key partner around that and that was only resolved in the past year or two in terms of its official withdrawal from the process. There were a couple of constitutional challenges in Germany. Within that time we have had changes at the top of the Department, changes in the officials in the IP unit and changes in the system. Also, the business case had dramatically changed for Ireland in terms of the benefits of this. That is the reason for us to demonstrate the importance of this issue, and also the importance of the committee scrutinising this. Engagement right across the policy system is important if we are to put such an important issue to the people.