Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

This forced the Government to take our idea and come up with its own agency. Unfortunately, this shows all the signs of being watered down by the Cabinet to a much weaker body than we had envisaged.

The party initiated its tax-back campaign to help the ordinary worker get back what is rightfully theirs. The people were getting no help from the Government on this issue. Most of all, we spelt out week after week the appalling waste of money by the Government. There is too much to point out. We spoke of the weakness of the Competition Authority, pointing out how since 1996 it has not secured one meaningful conviction of breaches of any competition legislation. When such anti-competitive practices are evident, it is difficult to believe that a State agency charged with being a watchdog has been unable to secure a conviction in ten years. That is nonetheless the case.

A proper Government should be outraged at the lack of protection for the consumer. A Government doing its job would have long ago acted, giving its State agencies real power, but the Government has not done so. Faced with a Government that has deserted the people, Fine Gael had to initiate its own ideas. My party had to develop its own policies, and the governing parties are only too willing to take these on board.

At our national conference in Cork, we called for reform of the Competition Act 2002. This reform is long overdue and the dithering by the Minister on the groceries order was the last thing that the consumer needed. There should be a Competition Authority that will instill great fear in those who plan to rip off consumers. In this I include the State, the biggest consumer of all and one that is funded by the hard-working taxpayers. An effective Competition Authority should not wait for complaints to be made as the rip-off merchant has by that time gone or covered its tracks.

We are calling and planning for a proactive authority which will actively seek breaches of competition legislation. It must have a large staff who are skilled in investigation and who know what they must look for. If such investigators are at large, there will be a rise in prosecutions. Once there are enough prosecutions, I am confident there will be a drop in the numbers of consumers being ripped off. Such an authority must be properly funded and provided with the powers and legislation that will enable it to act effectively but the Government has shown no sign of doing so.

Deputy Hogan put forward the excellent idea of imposing time limits on investigations, which would have the effect of clearing the case load at a greater rate and speeding up the court process. It would also send out the right message to the people who believe that, even if they are caught, it will take forever for their cases to get to court and they can make their money. In addition, Fine Gael proposes that specified bodies be given the right to make so-called super complaints to the authority on any market practice that is contrary to the best interests of the consumer.

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