Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide an update on the work of the Copyright Review Committee; when the final report of the Committee is to be expected; the number of submissions received by the Committee; the way he intends to respond to the report once it is delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9033/13]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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An independent Copyright Review Committee was established by Minister Richard Bruton in May 2011 to examine the Irish copyright framework in order to identify areas that might be considered to create barriers to innovation and to make recommendations to resolve any problems identified, whether at national or EU level. As part of the Committee's terms of reference, they were asked also to consider the USA style ‘fair use’ doctrine to see if it would be appropriate in an Irish/EU context. This doctrine is concerned with circumstances in which copyright material may be used without the express permission of Right Holders.

The Committee undertook an initial consultation during the summer of 2011 and received a large number of submissions from a broad spectrum of interested parties. The outcome of this consultation phase resulted in the publication of a comprehensive Consultation Paper in February 2012 which developed the issues advanced in the submissions and posed specific additional questions arising from the first round of consultations.

A further round of consultations was initiated by the Committee in March 2012 covering issues affecting the different categories of persons affected i.e. Right Holders, Collecting Societies, Intermediaries, Users, Entrepreneurs, Heritage Institutions and Fair Use under a wide range of headings. In addition, a public meeting was held on 24th March 2012 for the purpose of facilitating broader discussion on issues arising from the Consultation phase. In response to the second round of consultation and the public meeting, in the region of 180 submissions were received by the closing date for receipt of submissions, in which many complex and substantive matters were raised. These further submissions are currently being examined by the Committee members who are working to produce their Final Report by end March 2013. I look forward to receiving the Committee's report and will be examining it closely at that time.