Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Competition (Amendment) Bill 2005. Having listened to the Minister's speech, I notice he did not draw any conclusions about the impact this legislation would have on consumer prices, similar to the advice and submissions he received. The clear submissions, on which he relied mainly to make these changes, were from the Competition Authority and the Consumer Strategy Group. The latter group said that if the Minister revoked the groceries order and made the necessary changes to the Competition Act, we would have a 9% reduction in prices almost immediately. However, a few months later the chairperson of the Consumer Strategy Group decided that perhaps that figure was a little high and indicated a figure of 3% and said that in 12 months' time that may happen. The second issue was that Dr. Fingleton, the former chairman of the Competition Authority, said that consumers could expect to have up to €500 million put back in their pockets if the groceries order was revoked. I note the Minister ignored all this in his contribution. He was wise to do so.

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