Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin welcomes the Consumer Protection Bill, especially the sections which establish the National Consumer Agency, NCA, and those which transpose the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive into the law of this State. This will have the effect of prohibiting unfair commercial practices, in particular misleading and aggressive commercial practices. In addition, we welcome the important measure to ban pyramid schemes that inevitably turn out to be fake and the rip-off scratch cards where one must pay some kind of fee before one can claim a prize which one has already won.

We welcome the fact that the National Consumer Agency will be a statutory body, independent in the performance of its functions and that it will also have responsibilities in the areas of consumer advocacy, research, educational awareness, information and enforcement and will finally combine with what the former Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs. It is important for the NCA to become a strong advocate for the consumer when it comes to consumer welfare issues. However, given that the NCA was established on an interim basis almost two years ago, it is most disappointing the Bill is only now being discussed in the House. The delay in their merger is unacceptable and shows how low consumer protection is on the Government agenda.

Despite welcoming the introduction of legislation that is intended to safeguard the rights of consumers, it is ironic that this Bill is being discussed in the Dáil only a matter of months after the groceries order was repealed by the Government. As well as its primary aim of promoting consumer advocacy, the Bill also aims to promote competition. The repeal of the groceries order was intended to promote competition. Instead, the repeal of the ban on below-cost selling has been proven to eliminate or reduce competition, not increase it. This Government initiative was sold to the public on the basis that retailers would pass on their savings on to the consumer. Clearly, this has not happened.

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