Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 186:

In page 84, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: “(5A) Services defined under subsection (5) shall not be deemed to be designated online services until such date as set by the Minister following the transposition into Irish law of the European Digital Services Act.”.

The amendment deals with the same issue. It is probably one of the cleanest ways to address this issue.It provides that services defined under subsection (5), such as interpersonal communications or private online storage services, "shall not be deemed to be designated online services until such date as set by the Minister following the transposition into Irish law of the European Digital Services Act". This would be a clean way of doing it. It would not require the Minister to return to this legislation but, rather, would allow that we would not have the premature application of the provisions of the Bill to areas that will be shaped by the digital services directive. The amendment provides for the Minister to take a simple act in respect of section 5 following the transposition of the Digital Services Act. It is effectively a commencement clause. It basically proposes that the Minister will not commence this clause until the relevant EU laws are in place. It is probably one of the cleanest and easiest ways to address that slight overlap of concern that has been identified by me and the Minister in the context of the digital services directive. The amendment refers to the European Digital Services Act but it should probably should refer to the digital services directive. That is a technicality. Is the amendment something that could work?