Professor Graham Butler:

I thank the Deputy for the question. That question has not been dealt with by his colleagues on the committee. As we all know and have all read, the general scheme of the Bill is extremely short and so we do not know what the ins and outs of it would be. In the report the committee is to provide to the Government in the context of drafting the full Bill to be introduced later in the year, if it wants to achieve the objective of prohibiting goods from entering into the State, it will need to consider how it does so with respect to direct imports and indirect imports. As I mentioned already, indirect imports are ones that have been lawfully imported into another EU member state first, marketed there and then benefit from free circulation into Ireland. As I understand the Bill, it will only be directed at direct imports and not indirect imports. If the State wants to achieve a blanket ban unilaterally, it will have to consider that further.