John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

In response to Deputies Colreavy and Tóibín, I do not intend to accept this amendment because in effect it replaces section 30(1)(c) of the principal Act, which gives the authority a statutory advisory role in respect of proposals for legislation and the implications for competition in markets for goods and services of such proposals. This amendment proposes to replace this statutory advisory function with power granted to the authority to report and make recommendations to the Government and Ministers of the Government concerning the implications of competition in markets. The authority may and on many occasions has reported on how competition is working in different sectors and has made recommendations to improve how competition works in these sectors. The present position is that such recommendations are addressed to relevant Ministers, public bodies or representative bodies, as appropriate. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, is engaged in a process to report on progress made in implementing the Competition Authority's recommendations. Of the more than 170 recommendations made by the Competition Authority between 2004 and 2010, only 7% remain under active consideration. The vast majority-----

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