Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The legislation is in its current state for a good reason. If a dominant group of purchasers is dealing with a dispersed group on the other side of a deal, it would be caught under the provisions of abuse of dominance, which limits what it can do. The group cannot collude either. There would be two restrictions on the more dominant "oligopoly", as the Deputy described it, as it cannot collude because of the first section and it cannot abuse its dominance. On the more dispersed side of the market, the provision is that the parties cannot collude. That means they cannot form a combination to try to set fees, although they can negotiate on other matters. It would be strange to authorise the Minister to decide which is the stronger or weaker party, with the Minister being set up to allow one party to collude in controlling the market. That would not equate to competition law, the point of which is to be independently enforced against a clear set of rules.