Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

On behalf of the Labour Party we too will want to facilitate the passage of this legislation. The Government is tardy in bringing forward this legislation although it had been precipitated by the EU Commission in its instigation in June 2007 of enforcement proceedings against Ireland under Article 228 of the EEC treaty. A recent opinion has been given and as Ireland has only a few months to respond, time is of the essence. As Deputy Varadkar said, the people who will pay for this if it is not implemented in a timely fashion will be the ordinary taxpayers who will pick up the tab for the Government's delay in introducing the legislation. While in the 2000 Act the Government may have taken a short-term view of saving money over a number of years, the fine would wipe that away very quickly.

The Labour Party welcomes the advent of the legislation in the Dáil and we will co-operate with its passage subject to a number of observations, comments and proposed amendments which we believe will improve the Bill. I will set them out here and I hope the departmental officials will consider them. Some of them have already been canvassed in the Seanad by our spokesperson, Senator Alex White. They did not seem to get the response I thought might have been forthcoming from the Minister of State. It is important that the legislation follows a belt and braces approach so that any lacunae or deficiencies, which we feel are apparent, should be remedied now. A stitch in time saves nine is the old proverb and it should be applied to legislation also. Just because amendments emanate from the Opposition, they should not be pooh-poohed as they may be worthy of inclusion. Having entered those caveats, we hope it will be quickly passed.

The legislation has been long awaited and has received a broad welcome from, among others, the Irish Writers' Union, as it provides a legal framework for a public lending right to pay writers whose books are borrowed through public libraries. It appears that details of the scheme will be included in later regulations that will emanate from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, as it is clear that public libraries and the Library Council, An Chomhairle Leabharlanna, fall under the remit of that Department. Those regulations obviously will be introduced by way of statutory instrument. We would like to understand how they will be formulated. There are issues regarding the membership of an advisory council. Those are important issues we need to thrash out and we would like to get a preview of the intentions of the Minister of State in order to ensure that the relevant parties are involved in an advisory role and can make an input. Those are the people at the coalface and we must ensure they are included.

In so far as one can ascertain, this legislation has its origin as far back as 1992 when the European Directive on Lending Rights came into being. Then began a significant process of campaigns and pressure by the Public Lending Rights International Network and the European Writers' Congress which culminated in a European Court of Justice decision in January 2007, C-175/05, which declared that Ireland by exempting all public libraries from paying public lending rights under the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 failed to comply with the 1992 directive and in essence was acting unlawfully, which is why we are here today.

It is important that we do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg, as public libraries play a very important and central role in promoting reading and in the promotion of Irish literature. They also promote the educational value of reading and the dissemination of information especially among elderly people, but also among the young. It is one of the places they get their first exposure to reading. It is an important educational tool as well as providing general knowledge.

It is crucial that the public lending rights be funded by the Exchequer and not from public library budgets. One cannot but laud the role of local authorities, whose centrality to the provision and maintenance of public libraries cannot be underestimated. As a member of a local authority in times of straitened finances, I recall clearly the great debates on trying to save money. Councillors always adopted a proactive role in trying to provide finances in times of great scarcity over the years which was essential to keep those libraries going. I acknowledge the role over the years of the county librarians and their excellent staff, who played pivotal roles in this regard.

The Labour Party believes that the Exchequer should provide the funding as to do otherwise would diminish the already scarce resources of the public libraries. As they already operate on shoestring budgets, it is important that nothing be done in the passage of this legislation that might diminish the finance available to them. The public lending rights will offer support to authors, many of whose works are not promoted, as the large multinational chains clearly concentrate on a small number of big names and bestsellers. Libraries often offer such authors the best chance of exposure as they have a wide selection of books available, including many out of print titles.

The payment will assist Irish writers, many of whom are unable to earn a living from writing alone. Some writers have been very successful over the years as mentioned by the Minister of State. For all the successful writers we have, there are many others who do not earn very much. It is important that they are helped out in that regard. We must ensure they continue to practise their craft and skills in writing. The United Kingdom imposes an annual cap of approximately £6,000 on the amount an individual can earn from a public lending right, which ensures that for very successful writers the payment does not become lopsided. Some Irish writers probably benefit from the UK public lending right payment scheme, which is operated here by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency. It is clear that the introduction of this scheme will open up an ancillary benefit for writers in other countries. Reciprocal arrangements will be in place with other countries and I am sure some of our writers will gain under that aspect also.

The legislation primarily deals with books. While I am not a technological person, there are videos, DVDs and other technological ways of dissemination of material. I ask the Minister of State to address the copyright issues that will arise regarding the lending of these. I am sure he has paid attention to the issue and has a view on it.

Section 7 inserts a new section in the 2000 Act enabling the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to make regulations to establish a public lending remuneration scheme and sets out that any such scheme be funded out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas. It also sets out the rates of remuneration, including minimum and maximum amounts payable to participating authors. The lack of a commencement order appears to be a potentially serious flaw in the Bill. The Bill as it stands commences on enactment, which means that the existing exemption for lending by libraries etc. will be repealed. However, as it will take time for the regulations to be formulated under section 7, it would seem to leave libraries in a legal limbo in the meantime. To remedy this lacuna a commencement provision is required to allow section 7 to operate immediately but the repeals only to come into operation on the making of regulations. Otherwise libraries might be forced to stop lending books until regulations are made. While this proposal is not the be-all and end-all, the Minister of State should investigate it.

Section 8 repeals section 58 of the 2000 Act, removing the exemption which exonerated public libraries from the need to remunerate authors for the public lending of their copyright works. This is the section to which the European Commission objected. As the Minister of State said, the position of educational establishments in this framework is important. These will obviously now not be included in the public lending right remuneration scheme and will continue to enjoy the exemption from the public lending right, which is important. Will there be an interregnum period? What will happen between the passage of the Act and the commencement by way of regulations? Let us not fall between two stools. I say this in a generous and positive way, and do not mean to be obstructive in any way. Ireland has had numerous success stories, including Wilde, Shaw, Yeats and Joyce and we have been very lucky.

I refer to the proposed advisory committee. Approximately 50 writers could earn their living from writing and the royalties payable under the scheme will be of some help in this regard. It is crucially important to establish what will be in the statutory instrument and it will also be important to ascertain whether the advisory body will be similar to its counterpart in the United Kingdom. I ask the Minister to ensure such an advisory committee will be representative of writers' groups such as the Irish Writers' Union, which has campaigned for the introduction of this legislation for a considerable time. It is important that a group of its status be consulted to ensure the inclusion of one of its representative on the advisory body the Minister intends to set up.

We are eager to facilitate the passage of the Bill but attention must be paid to a number of issues. One of our legal advisers suggests an amendment that the collective citation, Local Government Acts 1925-2007 should include Part 3. This is a drafting amendment designed to update the collective citation. The Water Services Act 2007 creates a collective citation of these Acts, even though it has not commenced. However, its collective citation does not require commencement and, therefore, is deemed to have commenced on enactment. Unless our amendment is accepted, anomalies could arise in referring to the Local Government Acts in future, as there would be two inconsistent citations for them. That is important to ensure the law is clear, concise and precise. We welcome the Bill and we will facilitate its passage.

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