Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

-----in December 2009, so we have been tardy in that respect. This is why I spoke to the Attorney General about the transposition of directives. I am delighted that a specialist has now been seconded to the Department from the Office of the Attorney General to assist with the transposition of directives, helping us to achieve this more efficiently and effectively than has been the case up to now.

Why would we delay this process? We certainly would not. The directive has been applied administratively since January 2010 so, in effect, it is in operation. The legal entity will be transposed, I hope, by the end of June. That is the target we have set ourselves and we want to meet it.

The major employment growth area envisaged by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland is in the services sector. Our exports of services will grow exponentially over the next ten years. In that respect the directive is important for Ireland, and we welcome it with open arms. We did everything in our power to ensure it was effected administratively because it provides wonderful opportunities for our export business.

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