Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

Mr. Gannon spoke about a media campaign the CRU plans to introduce around switching and the fact that households in particular should be looking to switch every year. We know of the likes of Switcher, Bonkers and oneswitch.ie. It can be quite a lengthy process, and that is for someone like me who is technically minded. I am conscious of older people in particular, people who are more vulnerable and people with disabilities, and the difficulty that comes with having to switch every year. I appreciate that there needs to be competition in the market. However, what always surprises me is that there is no type of loyalty programme or loyalty bonus assigned to existing customers of whoever the provider may be. If the CRU were given more powers as a regulator, is this something it could try to tackle? As was said earlier, staying with the same provider the following year could result in a difference of €300 or €400 per annum. By and large, the people being impacted by that most are vulnerable consumers. If there were additional regulatory powers assigned to the CRU, is this something Mr. Gannon thinks it could tackle?