Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's full response to my question and thank her for it. I am particularly grateful to her for stating her own anxiety that rights holders will be able to enforce their intellectual property rights. As I have indicated, the current legal position amounts to a serious obstacle to the enforcement of intellectual property rights, particularly for small companies and independent individuals. This is the difficulty the copyright review committee has so clearly addressed in its recommendation. I am also grateful to the Minister for her statement that the Department is finalising legislative proposals for Government consideration based on the 2013 report and that she expects to bring the proposals to Government before the summer recess. I will be happy to support those proposals if they address the issue I have raised.

By way of follow-up, will the Minister state at this point whether the proposals will include implementation of the recommendation that I have focused on, namely, the reform of the small claims procedure to cover intellectual property claims? Will the Minister state whether that particular recommendation will be addressed in the proposed legislation? I welcome the announcement that we will, hopefully, see this legislation, at least in draft form, before the summer recess. I would be grateful for a response on that specific point.