Mr. Seán Murphy:

I thank the Deputy for the question. Traders are required to display their prices. There are a number of display orders out there.

What is of relevance to the question the Senator has asked is that there is a petrol and diesel display order, SI 178 of 1997, and that sets out pretty specific terms as to what traders are required to do. In the case where we have received complaints that such signs have been off or not displayed, we have sent officers out to investigate that, so there has been attendance at a couple of stations with respect to that. What the officer will assess is whether there was a reasonable excuse behind that or what was the intent behind it, and the officer will get an explanation from that trader. If there is a reasonable and plausible excuse as to why that was not on, a warning is issued and, again, the trader needs to sort that out. We can also issue a fixed payment notice for a specific breach because those display orders come under the Prices Act 1958, so they remain in vogue.

The one thing I would say is that those price displays are a very powerful consumer protection measure because, as our chairman said, it enables consumers to be fully informed before they enter that transaction, so they do not arrive onto the forecourt and get surprised and find the price displayed is not the price, which is another check we do against that. To date, we have conducted more than 150 checks on price display and in instances where we have received complaints with respect to pricing, we visited there as well. I hope that clarifies it.