Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
JUNIOR INNOVATION MINISTER Seán Sherlock has said he remains committed to implementing new internet copyright legislation – but has said he is personally willing to bring forward full primary legislation, which would allow for full Oireachtas debates.
Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon, Sherlock insisted that as a member state of the European Union, Ireland needed to implement the copyright directives laid down by the EU, which allowed copyright holders to take measures to ensure their intellectual property was not being infringed.
The minister assured independent TD Catherine Murphy, who had raised the matter during the Dáil’s ‘topical issues’ time, that this right was “not superior to the right of the individual user” to use the internet, nor the right of an internet service provider to conduct their business.
An Internet Service Provider (ISP) could not be asked to monitor all the data of each of its customers in order to prevent copyright infringement, Sherlock said, referring to a recent European Court of Justice ruling.
“Nobody wants to limit the freedoms of the internet – it is counter-intuitive,” Sherlock said. “We live in a democracy.”
Sherlock said the introduction of the statutory instrument – a form of law which can be enacted without the need for Oireachtas approval – was “imminent” and that he understood it would be discussed at cabinet next week.
The minister said he was “personally” not opposed to the idea of introducing a full Bill to try and legislate for the issue, but argued that any government would be unable to legislate properly unless copyright holders and ISPs came together “in an organic fashion” to agree a common platform.
This is not SOPA legislation. Absolutely not. What this is is a restatement of what the Irish government held to be the case anyway, in relation to copyright.
The government’s push for new legislation is required after the High Court last year ruled that Irish law did not provide copyright holders with the ability to seek an injunction stopping inappropriate access to their material online. This is in contravention with an EU directive.
Catherine Murphy had opened the debate by saying the “pretty vague language” of Sherlock’s draft legislation had caused “serious concerns for the established online freedoms in Ireland.”
The language was “open-ended” and did not give judges “any instructions by way of legislation that will set boundaries”.
Murphy argued that the current wording would give a court the power to “block a site where any user had even linked to copyrighted material… it’s entirely up to the courts, the grounds under which an injunction can be granted.”
Murphy added that Ireland was “about to have a hurricane storm” if the difficulties were not ironed out. “If this Topical Debate is the start and end of this debate, it will be absolutely deficient,” she said. “We need to have a debate, and we need to have debate within the next week, on this.”
The Kildare North TD said there appeared to be a contradiction between Sherlock’s desire not to give courts the power to enforce unlimited blocking of websites, but still offer the ability to grant injunctions which could do just that.
There is a very important and strong need to have a complete clarification, before any statutory instrument is signed – because this has the potential, because of its vagueness, of doing damage.
TJ McIntyre of Digital Rights Ireland, which opposes the current format of the proposals, said the new draft published today showed “no substantive change” that he could see.
He argued that the new draft shows how the concerns of his group, as well as those of ISPs and the telecoms industry “have all been ignored”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I’m sorry but either this headline is misleading or we’re being mislead, the headline clearly says “drop in Irish medical costs” but goes on to mention going to places like Spain, Belgium, Germany, UK, Northern Ireland, Tunisia and Hungary. Not exactly shopping local is it?
How can they seriously claim this is an example of a drop in IRISH medical costs, it isn’t, it’s an example of how Irish medical costs are still higher compared to going abroad. Need a hip replacement? Well it’ll cost you here but if you want to hop on a plane, fly around Europe and see the sights it’ll still be cheaper abroad… but believe it or not thats just an example of how cheap we are. Honest… no seriously.
Hi Brian – the drop is in Irish prices since the last index on Irish prices, which was in Spring 2011.
It’s not a drop in Irish prices compared to EU prices – apologies if that wasn’t clear,
As for the figures at the end of the article, that is to illustrate the point that the costs differ between countries.
Thanks
Aoife
The article clearly says “The survey also shows there is a variation of up to 70 per cent in some treatments, with some people able to save up to 50 per cent by travelling abroad to countries like Spain, Belgium and Germany for treatment.” This would seem to suggest that Irish patients can save on their treatments by going abroad, for example it makes no distinction on Laser Eye Surgery between going to Dublin or Hungary, just that a major saving can be made.
On knee replacements they make no distinctions between shopping around within Ireland or abroad “Patients requiring common but more invasive medical procedures, such as knee replacements, can make savings of 9 per cent or c.€1604 by traveling to Connaught from Leinster. A further 30 per cent saving can be achieved by engaging the services provided by Avantis Health and having the procedure in Spain.” To be fair I do know of people who have travelled abroad for treatment, and it was much cheaper than here. We are being ripped off here.
Hi Brian
yes the article says that as a lead on from the initial point that Irish costs are in general slightly lower than in the Spring time of this year. The points are separate but connected:
- Costs have lowered in Ireland this year
- It costs less for certain treatments in different areas of Ireland
- It costs less for certain treatments in European countries compared to Ireland
This would suggest that people can shop around both in Ireland and abroad.
But this is separate to the point that the costs have lowered in Ireland.
The figures are included as examples – unfortunately I do not have the space to include all of the details for all the treatments outlined in this article.
Hope that is clearer for you
Aoife
The “article” is a press release from a company that makes money from people purchasing healthcare abroad, so I’d take everything it says with a large pinch of salt.
Yet again a press release from a company is dressed up as news. This is a bit like McDonalds releasing a “study” showing people can save money in burgers by shopping around and using their outlets.
And you wonder why people cross the border!
Just wondering how breast augmentation costs an average of €2.7k in Ireland when the average for the provinces and Dublin are all above 3k….figures don’t seem to add up.
have your say