Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Acting Chairman might tell me when my five minutes are concluded.

I compliment Deputy Hogan on moving this motion and on his work in consumer issues. We have not had a real Minister for the past five years. The current Minister is so incompetent in his Department that the Opposition was able to bring forward these proposals and show the people what was happening in respect of rip-off Ireland. I compliment Mr. Eddie Hobbs on stealing Fine Gael's idea. I compliment him on seeing it as a good idea and taking it further. He showed what is happening in Ireland.

The Minister of State should scrap the Competition Authority immediately. It has no powers, functions or role. Unless the Government is prepared to give it these, there is no point in having jobs for the boys and girls, which is happening. The authority does not have the power, resources and legislation in place to deal with any query. I will provide a number of examples. The banks have got away with murder since the foundation of the State. The Dáil was brought back into session to pass emergency legislation when AIB made its mess and the taxpayers were needed to bail it out. Taxpayers had to pick up the tab.

The banks also got away with murder in respect of offshore accounts. Who was crucified when the State, the Government, the Civil Service and everyone involved with the Revenue Commissioners let this happen? The small people on the ground. There was not one prosecution in this matter. People in rural Ireland did not know what an offshore account was, although they undeniably knew they were fiddling their taxes, but the banks got away with it, which they will always do. As a man once said to me when I entered politics, the rich will always look after the rich and the legislators will always look after the rich, which was proven in this case. People were so worried that they committed suicide. Elderly people received threatening letters from Revenue but did not know what they were about as they had been misinformed. They were told by the banks what to do while the banks walked away.

Why has the Competition Authority not done anything in respect of the price of soft drinks? One can go into a pub, discotheque or wherever and pay €2.40 or €2.50 for Coca Cola, orange or water. Why has the Government, the parties of which have been in power for almost 20 years, not dealt with this rip-off? It is nothing but a rip-off when one pays this amount for water, Coca Cola or orange. It is time everyone knew there are large margins that nobody has done anything about. Just like the situation with the banks, no one has been prepared to do anything.

Why did the Government not take on the builders? They bought land, left it, decided how much development would take place each year, controlled the prices and created the housing crisis. Not alone have builders bought the land they are now using but they have bought land in other areas to ensure they will control the land banks for the next 20 years. The Government has done nothing. These builders have been too friendly with politicians and Governments over the years.

If the Competition Authority is to stay in place, we should give it powers, such as to take on local authorities, which are the greatest rip-off merchants of all. They believe that, when they have a crisis, a problem or must pay their staff benchmarking increases, they can pass the cost onto consumers without needing to justify their charges. It is time something was done.

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