Ian's version does the trick for me.
Teresa
Generally, I think you might be using too many words. How about:
""" On Wednesday of this week, hundreds of software engineers and small business owners protested in Brussels against the introduction of Software Patents in the EU. In September the European Parliament made amendments and clarifications to a proposal to prevent it from legalizing software patents, yet the European Council's internal working party chose to discard these amendments.
Does the Irish Presidency recognise the risks to innovation and competition in the software industry that software patents create, and if so, why discard the European Parliaments efforts to address these risks? """
Ian.