Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank colleagues for being here with me today. I thank the Chair and members of the committee for facilitating Committee Stage and for the support for the Bill on Second Stage in the Dáil. I am delighted to bring the Bill to Committee Stage today on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, set out on Second Stage, the Bill has a very specific purpose. It introduces amendments to the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Act that are necessary following a European Court of Justice ruling delivered in September 2020, in a case that originated in the High Court in 2016. This ruling found that Ireland had not adequately transposed a 2006 EU copyright directive on the sharing of royalty payments between producers and performers of recorded music. The relevant article of the directive is Article 8(2). The State had not provided clear obligations for producers to share royalties with performers. We had not specifically provided for how royalty payments are to be shared between performers and producers in the absence of an agreement between them. Nor were we fully compliant with international copyright conventions, namely the World Intellectual Property Organisation Performances and Phonograms Treaty and the Rome Convention because we had also not ensured that equal treatment is provided to nationals of countries outside of the European Economic Area that are party to international copyright conventions.

The Bill will restore Irish copyright legislation to full compliance with EU and international law. It sets out a new process for the agreement of division of royalties between music performers and producers, extends application to nationals of countries outside the EEA that are party to international copyright treaties, and grants the function of final arbitration of disputes to the Circuit Court.

The Government has identified one potential amendment to the Bill, which would be added to section 2. This amendment will be tabled on Report Stage. I will present it in further detail when we discuss section 2.

It is imperative that the Bill is enacted in order to ensure Ireland is fully compliant with EU and international law. It is vital that we have an efficient legal framework in place to support copyright and intellectual property, a necessity for the economic well-being of the creative sector, in this case the music sector, which is a significant employer in the State and essential to our culture, which brings us all so much enjoyment.