Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

Irish banks get away with murder. The average cost of a credit card is €105 whereas the average across Europe is €65, indicating a significant mark up here. The cost of taking out a loan here is almost twice the EU average while Irish consumers pay €100 for current accounts. These costs are often not obvious to the consumer as he or she buys into various financial packages. The Government has done very little to contain or control this activity.

I would like the Bill to take account of management companies. They have been a major issue for many who have bought houses and paid large sums to management companies for very poor delivery or none. The Labour Party put forward some sensible proposals recently that we would like the Minister to take on board. The lack of control of management companies and the failure to implement any relevant legislation has caused much grief for victims of bad management companies. Some management companies deliver the service and work well on behalf of their clients but unfortunately we have received many complaints about bad management, no delivery of service and no concern for the householder. This is a serious problem that must be addressed in legislation.

The key to the implementation and effectiveness of this Bill is how well the consumer benefits from it. In order for the consumer to benefit we must fill the information and education gap. This could be achieved through the resources of citizen information centres. Many consumers are unaware of their rights. The legislation will help but unless the consumer knows about his or her rights and is able to ask the right question it will be of no use.

There seems to be a plethora of agencies with various responsibilities and there is a danger of creating one more that will overlap with, duplicate and dilute the resources we so badly need. The proof of how consumer friendly this legislation is will lie in how well it is resourced and enforced. I noted the example highlighted today of the Director of Corporate Enforcement pleading for funds to enable him to perform his statutory duty. I would not like to see this experience repeated but would like to think that this new agency will be adequately resourced, the personnel will be provided, the support services will be in place and that it can be effective and deliver. I hope the introduction of this Bill will be effective but to judge by the past performance of the Government on consumer concerns there may be no delivery on it.

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