Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

It is not an allegation. I commend Senator Ross on his writing and if he ever writes a book about the Celtic tiger and its relaunch under this administration, perhaps he could avail of whatever facilities exist.

Though we were an enlightened country in terms of introducing that legislation, perhaps we were not so enlightened with regard to this particular concession. It has taken a long time. Britain introduced it in 1981 and the Scandinavians did so in 1979 but we are only introducing it now. I hope there will be no retrospection here because we would have impossible calculations to make vis-a-vis the library services.

An important aspect of this Bill, for which I compliment the Minister and the Government, is that the Exchequer will bear the cost of the legislation because local authorities would not be in a position to pick up the tab.

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Michael Ahern, to the House and commend him on his appointment which, in the light of the exemplary job he did in his previous appointment, is well deserved. The Minister of State brought forward tremendous legislation, the Companies Act, which was most beneficial to small companies. He has been a good friend to this House, has been here on many occasions and is welcomed by all Members.

I welcome this legislation but ask the Minister of State to clarify the position on the lending of music, videos and such technologies where copyright issues arise. Libraries, as the Leader of the House knows, now loan videos and DVDs and it is important that copyright issues in such circumstances be clarified.

The Department made a clever move in the early 1990s that allowed for exemption in certain circumstances so charges would not apply but things have now caught up on us and we have recognised this.