Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is and that is why I picked the health sector as an example because it is an area with great scope. However, as the Minister of State says, it has difficulties with infection control. You can always be guaranteed that when opening the seal on something that it is going to be medically clean.

An issue was raised by another Deputy a couple of months ago in the Dáil regarding the right to repair and whether there is scope to include a statutory right to repair as part of the warranty on goods for sale. It exists in some countries. My understanding is that it works reasonably well. For some reason it was put forward as an amendment and was rejected by the Government at the time. Without getting into the details of that, what are the Minister of State’s own thoughts on the right to repair? If we were to come at it again from a different angle, would the Government be disposed towards considering it? For me it is fundamental that if something breaks and can be fixed, it should be fixed, and fixed by the manufacturer in some instances. However, there is a way of thinking whereby if even a small piece of an item is broken then it must be discarded. To try to have a phone repaired is futile, and there is no statutory right to have it repaired. Does the Minister of State have a view on whether it would be too onerous to introduce, or could it be partially done? Is there any scope for that right to be included as a statutory right?