Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

Did I understand the Minister of State to say the EU is revisiting the copyright directive? I hope so, because it should be, although I do not know how long this will take to resolve if that is the case.

Is it the intention of the Minister of State to proceed immediately to sign the statutory instrument in the absence of any guidance to the courts as to how they will exercise their powers to grant injunctions? For example, the Minister of State said he is confident the courts will act in accordance with the principle of proportionality and that he does not think the courts will block websites. Why not write that down? Why not put it in the form of legislation? This is the Irish Parliament. Ireland is the only country that will be affected if there is undue disruption of the Internet because of the way the judges interpret the scope of the powers we are now giving them. Why not restrict those powers? At the same time as making it explicit that judges can grant injunctions, why not simply write it in the rules which will govern the granting of those injunctions?

I do not believe that is an unreasonable thing to ask. It is the least we should ask the Government to do before it signs off on this matter.

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