Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

First, I sympathise with the family of Dean Regan Russell and indeed with Deputy Ó Caoláin, who I know is a close family friend. I cannot begin to imagine what an impact this has had on the family.

As the Deputy knows, both the National Consumer Agency and the National Standards Authority of Ireland have a role in the matter. The National Consumer Agency has primary responsibility for non-food consumer safety, and it has been campaigning to achieve safer standards since 2002. It was at the agency's initiative that the 2009 standard that is in place was brought in, and on foot of that it placed a warning on its website, followed it up with a consumer guide on safety, wrote to 222 manufacturers and retailers, ran a nationwide market surveillance campaign and visited 97 retail outlets.

I understand from the reports that the allegation is that the products that were sold in 2010 were not in compliance with the 2009 standard, but I mention those facts to give members a picture of the effort that was put in at that stage. People have recognised that the existing standard is inadequate. That is what prompted the request for a revision of the standard. It does not cover made-to-measure blinds and various other cases are excluded. A new standard is being developed and the closing date for comments was extended to give people a chance to make further submissions.

I am told that the difficulty with the call for prohibition from the coroner, the family and indeed Deputy Ó Caoláin, which I can understand, is that Ireland cannot unilaterally introduce such a ban. It would have to obtain approval from the European Commission and other member states, and the advice I am receiving is that such approval is unlikely to be granted because work is being undertaken on improving the standard. The best approach is to have products installed with the safety features that make them safe rather than to ban a particular type of blind. That approach is being pursued here, limiting the risks from loop chord mechanisms by requiring manufacturers to fit risk prevention measures in the design and by supplying proper safety advice with the product. I am advised that the prohibition route is not open to Ireland for unilateral action. The approach being adopted is to make all products safe.

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