Ms Clare McNamara:

The consultation has concluded. We have been factoring in the responses to it in the drafting. As members are aware, the Bill was approved for drafting in April, so the drafting has been continuing apace since then. We have been taking into consideration several of the responses that were received. Respondents to the public consultation included the likes of the CCPC, the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, the Consumer Association of Ireland, IBEC, ComReg, the Alternative Operators in the Communications Market group, the Bar Council, the Law Society and the Irish Dental Association.

The responses to the consultation were generally very supportive. Concerns were raised regarding Part 4, particularly in respect of the supply of professional services. For instance, the Bar Council of Ireland suggested that in the event that barristers are permitted to provide services directly to consumers, those services should be exempted from the application of Part 4 of the scheme, relating to contracts for the supply of services. Although the matter is somewhat academic at present, we do not see any compelling reason, in principle, for the exclusion of legal services provided by barristers from the scope of Part 4 in terms of the protection of consumer rights. The Irish Dental Association argued, for example, that the provisions of Part 4 and the fitness of a service for a particular purpose or result are inappropriate in the context of dental services. As these provisions only apply to a purpose or a result accepted by a service provider, we think it is proportionate to offer adequate safeguards to the providers of dental or other services.

We are engaging with other Departments with responsibility for redress schemes, for example, in areas such as property or legal services. We are engaging with bodies such as the Legal Services Regulatory Authority, the Residential Tenancies Board and the like with a view to making sure that, without impinging on consumer rights, we avoid regulatory overlap. We do not want any overlap or confusion. We are grateful to all the respondents to the consultation. We might not necessarily agree on some of the points of concern raised, but all of the observations have been analysed and they will inform the onward drafting of the Bill.