Rónán Mullen (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his contribution and response to Deputy Finian McGrath's questions which addressed some of the issues I had in mind. I agree with the Minister that counterfeiting is bad and there is no disguising this fact. I wish to ask about the technical side of the directive to be agreed and its transposition. What is the process involved? Obviously, the directive has emanated from the European Commission in the normal way. What are the stages that have to be followed? I am interested to hear about what happens when it comes to negotiating on the directive and reflecting the Minister's concerns and those of other member states on the minimum sentence issue. For Ireland to have the discretion not to provide for a minimum sentence in its laws, is that a measure that will have to be negotiated on and agreed to or, the directive having been agreed, will we still have some wriggle room? In the business of transposition of directives a degree of discretion is permitted within the confines of what is required to take account of local sensitivities. Is it a question of sorting this out during the international negotiations stage or is it something we can tweak at a later point? I assume that would apply, in particular, to issues such as surveillance which might be a sensitive matter as noted by the Minister.