Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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I thank our witnesses this morning very much. I really only have one interrelated question to the one already posed. Do the regulations go far enough to stamp out built-in obsolescence of consumer products? It is an issue I firmly aware of in the computer area with the extreme difficulty in repairing certain products. As was highlighted by Mr. McGreal with regard to the regulation and certain products with the right to repair directive, they do not accept non-genuine parts or rather their own parts but parts that conform with the requirements of the piece of hardware in the first instance. I can only use one example, and I am not picking on it, but Apple has an activation lock on a lot of its devices that can render a relatively new device completely obsolete. It cannot be reactivated and cannot be used and, therefore, a person could have a two- or three-year old device that is a paperweight. Is it believed by those present in the committee room this morning that the directive will go far enough to stamp that out? I am sure there are other applications to the idea of built-in obsolescence. Do the witnesses have any views on it?