Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will take both of those questions because they are about technical details. I thank both Senators for their kind comments. As they said, we are not finished yet. This Government still has a good eight months to run, potentially, and I hope to play a part in its work in whatever way I can.

With regard to Senator Daly's question, my understanding is that the committee had access to the original draft from the Department. My apologies, that related to another issue on our files, the common charter. Senator Daly asked about the electronic communications code. The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, is the body that has responsibility for drafting that text and the final document will become the statutory instrument. As I understand, it is the OPC's advice that the draft should not be shared. I cited another example, the common charter, and in that instance the departmental draft was shared. However, when it gets to the OPC stage it is its analysis and view that the document should not be shared. We have to have cognisance of the OPC's legal rights.

With regard to Senator McDowell's question, this is a recasting of four directives so it is a consolidation of four existing communications directives. That was due to be fully transposed in December 2020. To answer the second part of the Senator's question, in March 2021 the Attorney General provided advice to the effect it was not permissible to transpose provisions by way of secondary legislation, as had been intended. In that instance, Ireland was already late with secondary legislation. That was not the only reason this infringement occurred but it would have been by a much shorter period. The difficulty we have with this is the length of time from December 2020 when it was due to be transposed to the present day. That is why the fine is so large. To answer the Senator's question, neither approach is satisfactory but that is the timeline.