Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The current Director of Consumer Affairs is an independent statutory officer appointed by the Public Appointments Service. As a general principle, appointments made in this manner are much more likely to find favour outside the Oireachtas than the Deputy's proposal. Members frequently complain that answerability to Parliament is not sufficient across a wide range of issues. If we were to stray into the area of making individual appointments in the manner proposed, we would run into much more trouble than it would be worth. I have never encountered a complaint concerning the independence of the current Director of Consumer Affairs position arising from the manner in which the appointment was made, nor does one, in general, find complaints with regard to the independence of the office. Despite being funded by the Department, the office operates with complete statutory independence.

Ultimately, the inclusion of a number of provisions in the Bill will be helpful because I expect it will be necessary to introduce legislation when the consumer rights group reports. This legislation will be informed by the findings of the expert group and by anyone else who is prepared to be constructive.

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