Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate the Government's decision to organise a debate on the subject but this is not the way to deal with the subject of this magnitude. We need a more considered debate, along the lines proposed by Deputy Martin, such as a select sub-committee of the Dáil to examine this area of major importance. I am one of the few people who raised this issue in the Dáil on Question Time with the Minister of State. I do not have a vested interest but I was approached by someone who represents copyright owners to find out what was happening and how the Government was going to respond to the EMI case. I thank the Minister of State for the courtesy with which he received my representations. He was very helpful.

The copyright directives of 1980 and 1984 intended that an injunction could be granted against Internet service providers. That was the clear intention and we all assumed it was the law. The matter was tested before the courts and the court took the view that the legislation transposing the directive could not allow for injunctions. Therefore, the directive was not properly transposed into Irish law and Mr. Justice Charleton said that he would have loved to grant an injunction but the drafting of the law did not allow him to do so. It is clear that we are under an obligation to comply with EU directives and to transpose EU directives properly. The Minister of State mentioned damages but this is part of our international obligations. We accepted the EU directive and legislation was passed to transpose it so we must bring it into effect. Every other country in Europe has brought it into effect properly. The Minister of State referred to European law and the Sabam case, the principles of which will be relied upon in the courts when deciding on how to implement this.

In a fast evolving situation such as this, there is an argument that it is preferable for judicial discretion and judicial law-making to deal with this situation. However, in a matter of this importance, the fundamental principles should be laid down by the Irish Parliament. The Minister of State said recently that it was not the Government's intention that Internet sites be closed down but if that is not his intention, why not put his intention in legislative form? That is the least required. We are abdicating responsibility to the Judiciary. While I have confidence in judges, I do not know the extent to which they will be persuaded by the principles of European law. I am familiar with the terms of the e-commerce directive but this is a matter for Parliament, not the Judiciary. We should set down the broad principles in this House. We all deplore piracy and we recognise the rights of copyright owners, which must be balanced against the right to freedom of expression, the right to privacy of end users and the absolute necessity for this country to have a robust and trading Internet. The representatives of the people in Parliament should be deciding this, not the Judiciary.

There is a bigger picture and perhaps it is time to revisit the EU directive, which is more than ten years old. The situation has evolved considerably in the meantime. In the United States, piracy has reduced substantially because there are 800 systems through which this material can be legally distributed on payment of a modest fee. The precedent for that in this country is the agreement between the Eircom and IRMA, which led to MusicHub, where people can download music on payment of a modest fee. The empirical evidence shows that if such a system is in place, people will opt for the legal system. There will always be some people who opt for the illegal system. That is the direction in which we should move.

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