Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 13 July 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Unified Patent Court: Discussion

Mr. Aidan Sweeney:

In the figures it has the potential to add an extra €314 million, up to €1.25 billion, should we get the central division, but our key message about this now is that decisions are being made in companies due to the pace of events about where they are going to locate. We have seen a number of people looking at setting up in Ireland. We have a number of law firms coming in and a number of multinationals are expanding their IP activities out of Ireland. When talking to a number of companies one, in particular, highlighted that it came here a couple of years ago on the assumption that the local division would be in by now. There is some frustration around this. The key thing is the message of the Government announcement two weeks ago. That recommitment has sent a very powerful signal. The next stage for us is to try to get certainty about that date for a potential referendum. However, we can play for this, and that is the key point.