Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Even the word "unscrupulous" involves a certain moral consideration. While I agree that price-fixing and so on are unscrupulous, I would argue that taking advantage of a war situation to increase profits is also unscrupulous. It is not illegal. It is perfectly legal within the framework of the capitalist market as we currently have it. However, I also think that is unscrupulous behaviour. People do not have a choice. People in many areas have no access to public transport and rely on driving private cars. They cannot afford to buy an electric vehicle, for example. They have no choice. They are the ones paying the price for massive increases in petrol and diesel prices. The whole discussion today has gone back and forth with people asking Mr. Godfrey to be in favour of changing the law. Obviously, he is not going to do that and I understand that. However, for me it confirms the point that we need to have price controls. If we were to pass price controls, which can be done by ministerial orders, presumably they would then be enforced by the CCPC. That is the kind of thing we need but I accept that Mr. Godfrey is unlikely to comment at this stage.