Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator for spending so much time in going through the Bill and tabling amendments. I am sorry I am in the position of having to put through legislation so quickly because it does not allow me to accept amendments that might be accepted on Committee Stage in the normal process. That speaks to the Senator's comments yesterday about why we should not bring forward legislation so late in this way.

This amendment is not required because the EU regulations have direct effect. When they come into force on 4 December, they will have direct effect and require member states to decide on applications within three months under Article 11.4 of EU Regulations 1071/2009. The average length of time taken to decide on a licence is two weeks, but from 4 December there will be a legal requirement to decide on applications within three months.