Mr. Brian McHugh:

I thank the Senator. I will take a few of those issues. On competition law, the issue here, which we highlighted in the opening statement, was around the services directive and the ability of services in Europe to trade across Europe without restrictions in place.

That is not a competition law issue, but a wider issue linked to the European Single Market whereby entities have the right to trade and invest across that market, and obviously Irish companies and farmers have benefitted a great deal from the Single Market. That is the issue. As we have said, and we are agreed to some extent, restrictions can be in place where they are necessary and proportionate. The issue today is that this has not been necessary, as far as we know, in the veterinary sector in any other European country. It has not been necessary in other sectors in Ireland, such as general practitioners, dentists and pharmacies. Many of the issues the Senator raised, which are very real and are issues we would be interested in, would be very similar in those sectors, and the solutions that have been found there are from a regulatory perspective. That is what we would go back to and suggest. These very real issues should be looked at, in terms what is necessary and proportionate, from a regulatory perspective where there is a regulator in place. Where there are potential risks with regard to drugs and how they are prescribed, that is something that could be looked at in the context of what rules and regulations are put in place on those practices and on those vets in respect of prescriptions and making sure that consumers and farmers have the ability to shop around wherever they wish for their drugs when they have been prescribed by a vet. They are able to have choice as regards getting the cheapest or the best service they can. That is something we would strongly support. We do not believe that this legislation is needed to address that point.

The Senator is absolutely right with regard to monopolies and cartels. That is something we are very concerned about and it is something we work on throughout the economy. It has not been a particular issue in the veterinary sector thus far, but it is something we would take action on if we thought that there was a monopoly that was going to harm consumers in terms of providing a service or a higher price, ultimately leading to what we call a substantial lessening of competition. We would take action where we saw that happening. One area where this might be relevant is that we would like the power to be able to call in mergers. Currently, any mergers above the threshold must be sent to the CCPC for approval before a merger acquisition can be enacted. We would also like to have the ability to call in problematic mergers below that threshold. Where people have evidence that there may be monopolies or there may be problematic arrangements in place and there may be a lack of competition or a lessening of competition in any area in any market, we are always interested in hearing about it. When we do and where we have the evidence, we will take action.

Another issue I wish to discuss is the actions taken by the CCPC, our views of consumers and our views of corporate. With regard to competition, to pick one area of our remit, we have recently completed cases against private motor insurance companies, against Ticketmaster and against a UK furniture wholesaler. These are not small companies. Some of them are massive multinationals. Where we saw that there was an issue, we gathered the evidence and where the evidence justified it, we set out our case and secured changes in those markets. We will continue to follow the evidence. Regardless of how big a company is, where there is evidence of a breach of competition law we will take action. The record shows we do that, and we will continue to do it.