Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

I understand the Minister said it is not in the Government's interests to oversee the work of the Competition Authority. It would be in its interests to ensure that no State agency is paying twice the amount for concrete in this State than is the case in other states. If the budget expenditure is being wasted on artificially high prices for concrete, for example, surely it is in the Government's direct interest to resolve that issue and not to just outsource it to another body? There are constitutional precedents for the imposition of civil fines. We see that in the tax code where civil fines are imposed on individuals without it being a criminal matter. Given that prior to the election Fine Gael wanted to bring competition law up to international norms, why is the Government now seeking to have it below that level? Why was the policy on civil fines in the party's election manifesto not included in the programme for Government?

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