Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The resources of the Competition Authority will be increased under next year's Estimates and the cartels division will be expanded. I met the former chairman of the authority late in the summer prior to him securing a new position in Britain. He was entitled to do that and we will go through the normal processes to find a replacement. However, he indicated the need for the authority to concentrate on cartels in the economy and he suggested that an important initiative I could take would be to secure additional funding in next year's Estimates to create a new division in addition to what is in place to pursue anti-competitive cartels that do not give the consumer a fair deal.

I do not want to comment on current cases and a file has been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions by the authority regarding the subject matter of last evening's programme. We are endeavouring to eliminate the practices highlighted in the programme and it is one of the reasons the Government sanctioned an amendment to the competition Bill relating to the groceries order. The order, in so far as it set a minimum price so that one could not sell below the net invoice price, inadvertently incentivised price fixing, which has no place in the economy and which the House should not attempt to protect or shelter.

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