I thank the Chairman for organising this meeting today because there is an urgency in terms of this Bill. I particularly thank the members here present, Deputies Neville and Quinlivan. Any time I come down here they are always here. I compliment them on their attendance at this meeting.
This Bill is technical in nature and I know the committee has previously discussed it with the Tánaiste. The purpose of the Bill is to give further effect to the Directive 2014/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the member states relating to the making available on the market of measuring instruments, and to provide related matters. I will not elaborate as the committee has discussed it already. This technical Bill is required to transpose Articles 1 and 3, which are two articles in the Bill - there are more articles for the directive - on the harmonisation of the laws of the member states relating to the making available on the market of measuring instruments. The remainder of the directive will be transposed, by way of regulation, under the European Communities Act 1972.
We know that we are behind with this Bill. We also know that the committee has gone out of its way to ensure it gets a speedy resolution through Committee Stage. Once the legislation is approved today, Report Stage will be taken in the Dáil and then on to the Seanad as well. We hope to have the legislation finalised in the coming weeks so that the Bill can go through to the European Commission. We have worked with the European Commission on this matter as well. It understands where we are coming from.
Again, I thank the members. I also want to thank the team from the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, for its co-operation. I also thank my own team in the Department for its hard work in getting this Bill through. I refer to Mr. Michael Pender, Ms Nina Brennan and Ms Ailish Looby.
