Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, to the House and welcome the Bill, which is supported by Fine Gael.

While the Bill is not contentious, it gives us the opportunity to debate patents generally. The Bill is a technical one as borne out by the Minister of State's references to the various sections. This is the nature of the legislation and more detailed discussion is more appropriate on Committee Stage, though I do not envisage much contention then either. It is not the kind of legislation to keep people awake at night worrying and I do not envisage the debate making the news headlines tonight.