Wexford Senator calls for a referendum to protect patents and intellectual property

Fianna Fáil Senator in Wexford, Malcolm Byrne, has called on the Government to indicate a date for the referendum on Ireland's membership of the Unitary Patent Court. He has called for it to be held next year, either in conjunction with referendums already proposed to take place in March or with the European and Local Elections in June.

Senator Byrne said: "I appreciate this isn't an issue that is going to dominate news headlines but Government needs to set out the case for Ireland's membership of the unitary patent system and for our membership of the Court. This system is a cost effective way to protect patents and intellectual property across the European Union. Because it is an international court and involves the transfer of jurisdiction, we need to amend our Constitution to provide for membership." Ireland is a signatory to the agreement for this system but has not yet ratified membership. The Court has commenced its work and 17 of the 27 EU Member States have already signed up.