Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A few weeks ago the commission said that traders were not obliged to pass on reductions in VAT or other excise charges to consumers. In light of the hardship that people are facing, and Mr. Godfrey will be aware of it from the letters he has received, does he think legislative change might be required to ensure that those measures are always passed on? I appreciate that we have all had a very hard lesson in global fuel price economics in the last while. We understand how prices move and so on. When the reduction in excise was announced there was a genuine feeling among people that it was not being passed on and they did not see it at the pumps. There is no obligation on retailers and fuel suppliers to do that. They have been very clear that they will do it if they can but they are not legally obliged to. Would it strengthen the commission's hand or does Mr. Godfrey think it would be a good idea if there was a legal requirement for that to be passed on to consumers in a demonstrable way?