Ms Isolde Goggin:

The Chairman asked earlier whether we might like to have more of a role in the agriculture sector. An interesting aspect that comes out of the discussion is the breadth of our role and the way we must be nimble and intervene when we see something that comes up as a result of our market monitoring. It could be beef, public liability insurance or hearing aids. Those are the three issues that have come up so far in a relatively short discussion. Our role cuts across the economy where we can intervene when we see problems in particular areas as long as they are within our remit. We do not see ourselves as having a specific, almost regulatory, role in any particular industry. We try to remind people that competition law is in place so they must respect that in the same way they must respect taxation, company and consumer law. It is a general floor across the economy rather than the way a sectoral regulator in something like telecommunications or energy might focus on a particular company or set of companies.