Mr. Aidan Sweeney:

About one in five multinational companies across Europe and about one out of every 100 SMEs has a patent. The patent system in Europe is six times more expensive than in the USA. Addressing that is part of our objective. It was recognised that there was no Single Market for innovation and innovation protection in the EU. The idea for Irish SMEs is that innovations can be exported across the EU. Translation has a risk. Members know, as policymakers, that mistakes can be made whenever a document is translated. One could have a verifiable, enforced patent in one location, which might have been the UK in the past, but it might have been translated incorrectly due to language barriers or some minor point in France, after which it was struck down and the right to that protection was lost. It is the raison d'être of these companies. As much enforcement as possible needs to be given. There is a tremendous opportunity for smaller countries such as Ireland to protect and enforce patents outside Ireland. That has never been available before.