Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-24 ============================================================ Joe Conway (IND), Cultural and Educational Panel All of us in this room would pride ourselves on being good Europeans and I am sure Government Members, including the Minister of State, would be no exception to that. In a time when there is a certain amount of fragmentation in Europe, we are very much steadfast to the cause. We accede to a lot of things that demand a certain amount of nose pinching because we are good, steadfast, solid Europeans. This legislation is trying to harmonise with and conform to an EU directive and that is a very understandable imperative for the Government. However, something that is championed by the European Union is a thing called alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. That being the case, I wonder where this sudden flight to the Circuit Court is coming from. If the impetus behind all of this is regularisation and harmonisation within Europe, then why are we flying in the face of what Europe wants us to do with alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and going pell-mell to the Circuit Court? Actually, that last is not us, but why are we recommending this to impecunious groups, performers and musicians that are starting out? Recently, I was looking at the 1911 census as it applied to my own county of Longford. The vast majority of males in that census were listed as agricultural labourers. For that, we can read slaves, basically, because they were hired at will at margaidh na saoire, about which the poet Rafferty wrote. These were the uneducated, the lowest form of personnel in the whole countryside. They were agricultural labourers who were hired and given a pittance by the big farmers. Very often, if they complained, the did not get hired again. Nowadays, their equivalent are the young performers, some of whom may not even be all that young. Some of them can be at it for a long time and still only be making a pittance or nothing at all. If they have a dispute with somebody who has their intellectual property or their performance rights, they are exhorted to go to the Circuit Court to have it sorted out. I am a good while around but I would be very slow to go into the Small Claims Court or the District Court, never mind the idea of ever willingly or trustfully facing the whims of the Circuit Court, with the cost of solicitors and barristers. We are talking about several multiples of tens of thousands of euro, possibly. If one looks at the performing organisation, RAAP, it has been involved in a court case that has been going on for the best part of ten years. I believe, and maybe Senator McDowell can confirm this, that the case is listed to be heard in the Supreme Court in late October this year. The cost for that organisation is enormous. I dread to think what it will be but I am sure it will be into the millions. To exhort non-waged, low-waged or impecunious performers and their cohort to look to the Circuit Court for resolution is both flying in the face of Europe and asking them to do something that is completely counterintuitive, namely, to buy into a system of redress that is way outside their affordability league. Where is this impetus coming from? Is it that the Government is dissatisfied with the controller and feels the need for another arm of redress to be brought in? Was it some blinding flash that occurred to the Government, despite the equalities in Europe? I will read out some information now for comparative purposes. The adjudication of disputes in the UK is dealt with by reference to the copyright tribunal. In EU member states, the results of a survey carried out by RAAP indicate that, in most countries, there has never been a dispute at all. Where a dispute is possible, either competent authorities or supervisory institutions have a role, both being State entities. In no EU country can we find the use of the courts system as the only form of dispute resolution. Why this headlong gallop to the Circuit Court when nobody else is doing that? None of our neighbours in the EU is doing it. I am sure the Minister of State is going to tell us that he is standing over this provision but I am at a loss to know why. I am sure, as we heard from Senator Black, that there is no hue and cry from the performing industry for this. I am sure the man on the Clapham omnibus is not calling for it. Where is it coming from? I would love to know. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-24/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-24