The Government is being called on to hold a referendum to protect patents and intellectual copyright.
17 of the 27 EU member States are already signed up to the Unitary Patent Court, but Ireland is not.
The Court provides legal protection to those who invent products or create matter that is governed by intellectual copyright.
Fianna Fail Senator Malcolm Byrne says if we signed up, Ireland would become more attractive to outside innovators:
"There's a huge potential here obviously for Ireland as well, particularly in the technology space, in the pharmaceutical space, places where Ireland is very strong, that we can become a base for companies and that they know "Look if we're going to assert our patent rights within the European Union, we know that Ireland is part of this European Patent System".
