Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ós rud é go bhfuil an Bille seo gairid, beidh an méid atá le rá agam gairid freisin. The Bill before the House brings this country's practice into line with the practice in other international contracting parties. As the Minister of State has said, the technical amendments in this legislation will enable Ireland ratify the Singapore trademark treaty, which seeks to harmonise the administrative procedures of trademark offices globally but has no substantive impact on trademark law.

As the Minister of State outlined, section 2 removes much of the uncertainty and worry from entities engaged in research that might be concerned about being found to be in breach of existing patents. Industry commentators have noted that this amendment to existing legislation will support research by companies into generic versions of drugs while protecting patents of branded drugs. As the Minister of State has acknowledged, existing patent law provides for a research exemption. The need for legal certainty has arisen from concerns that the exemption in law does not appear to be as wide as that applied in other European states, Canada and the United States. The fear with regard to countries that have more liberal exemption regimes, such as Germany and Canada, is that research work could move if concern remains about the risk of a patent.

Everyone agrees that the pharmaceutical industry is important to Ireland. If we enable this sector to carry out research unhindered, we will give certainty to companies operating in Ireland and their subsidiaries in other countries. Ireland has invested heavily in the pharmaceutical sector. According to IDA Ireland, some €8 billion in research funding has been committed by the Government. Ireland is the eighth largest producer of pharmaceuticals in Europe. Nine of the ten top pharmaceutical companies have operations in Ireland. Dublin and Cork have been the largest beneficiaries of this successful development over the last four decades. The Government's response to the patent cliff over the last three years highlights the limitations of its economic strategy. Indeed, there is an over-reliance on existing foreign direct investment industries and companies already established in Ireland.

I have raised the need for the development of a strategy to cluster industries and skills in a way that will make regional foreign direct investment more attractive, while helping local economies to grow in equal measure. Foreign direct investment and indigenous business links need to move from theory to practice. The experience of foreign direct investment engagement in this State is far lower than that in other countries. While clustering has happened, it has been small in scale and minimal in location. Ambition is not a word associated with the Government, which prefers to tinker around the edges and keep things ticking over. Big announcements are often followed by unambitious delivery. While the impact of the patent cliff on the State's economic aggregates will subside in 2014, the clarity provided by the stated extension of the research exemption in law should help to move the figures in the right direction.

I will conclude by noting that in 2012, the Government's jobs action plan included a commitment to review section 42 of the Patents Act 1992 with the aim of clarifying research actions that do not constitute patent infringement under Irish law. This was to be done to maintain and attract high value-added biopharmaceutical investment. It would be helpful if Members could know why this review, which amounts to 26 lines of legislation, took two years to complete.

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