Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

This amendment has been considered in conjunction with the Parliamentary Counsel, which was reluctant to create a collective citation as it would be necessary to ensure that all other intervening amendments would be included. There is concern that there may be an oversight if any amendment made in the past 14 years was to be omitted.

The fact that the Bill, as published, contained a collective citation is not an argument for having one in the Bill. The citation proposed does not give a full picture of any amendments made to the Patents Act in the interim. It merely signposts that the Patents Act was last amended in 2006. Also, as the Bill amends other intellectual property legislation, if a citation were made a similar provision would be needed in respect of those Acts.

The Parliamentary Counsel is satisfied with the section as it stands. I do not propose to accept the amendment.

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