John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to debate this motion on competitiveness in the economy and the Competition Authority. I unfortunately did not hear Deputy Hogan's contribution but did hear those of Deputies Enright, Crawford and Perry who referred to areas where prices have increased. Increasing prices are not a measure of competitiveness and those Deputies only looked at one side of the argument. The issue of excessive charging is one we take seriously. The Government took seriously the high cost of motor insurance and addressed it. The outcome was that insurance prices have dropped.

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