Unified patent court referendum
Doherty asks about the promised referendum on the unified patent court; the Taoiseach says there will be no referendum in 2014 and the legislation remains at heads-of-bill stage.
I appreciate that. The second piece of legislation is the amendment of the Constitution Bill. This is in section C of the list of legislation and it is about a constitutional referendum promised by the Government on the unified patent court. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, said that referendum would take place in 2014. We see the legislation is in section C. Is it intended that the referendum will take place in 2014, as per last year's commitment? Will it be in the first half or the second half of the year?