Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill 2025: Report and Final Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF), Dublin South-Central

The likelihood of somebody returning a year later is as unlikely as somebody taking a case in the first place, unless they have money behind them. That is one of the issues when we resort to the courts. It is not as simple as that. I accept that an individual can take a case but even if a person represents himself or herself where there is a grievance, he or she usually requires legal advice. Legal advice at different levels is expected for different courts. That is one of the reasons we must try to avoid pushing citizens towards courts at different levels. If at all possible, we must try to settle grievances or disputes through arbitration or, in this instance, the role of the controller. It has not been shown that the controller has failed. Given that, why fix something that is not broken? We could enhance the role of the controller.
You can add time limits if things are running on. As the Minister of State was just saying, people still have the right to go back for another adjudication. If people are not happy with the controller, they can go to the courts. That is always your right as an individual, as a collective management organisation, CMO, or as any organisation in the State. You have recourse to the courts but most people do not make use of this if they respect the role of the controller's office. That is why we have argued, both today and in the past, that we should retain the role of controller. If someone can show me where it is failing, I will consider that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21