Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The new situation has enabled supermarkets to lower prices on certain high profile items, to be used as loss leaders to attract customers, while other goods are priced the same, or even higher than independent retailers. Is this the type of unfair commercial practice that will be covered by the Bill? Will the National Consumer Agency advocate for a reduction in costs in supermarkets? If it does, will it be a real vehicle for championing consumers' rights or will it be a cosmetic exercise at best, to attract people into shops, where it is not the supermarkets that pay for it, but the farm producers who receive a constantly reducing proportion of the final cost of items?

Buying a house is a consumer action. Will the National Consumer Agency be advocating on behalf of those who are faced with rates of house price inflation that are out of control? This inflation has all but priced working families and first-time buyers out of the private housing market, with average costs of €308,000 to €516,000 in the State. The average price of a new home was 11% higher in 2006 compared to the previous year. Figures for the same period show an increase of more than 17% in second-hand house prices in the Dublin area. House prices are increasing at almost twice the rate of wage increases. It is no wonder that public sector workers such as nurses, fire fighters and teachers cannot afford to buy a home in our major cities. My Sinn Féin colleagues hope that it is within the remit of the NCA's advocacy role to tackle the Government and get it to address the rising cost of purchasing a home.

The practices of some estate agents may also play a role in inflating house prices. They have an inbuilt incentive for inflation because they receive a percentage of the price of the sale. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that some estate agents use underhand measures to increase the cost of housing for their own profit. This combination of incentive and opportunity requires a robust policy response.

Section 53(1)(a) deals with prohibited commercial practices:

A trader shall not engage in any of the following commercial practices:

(a) a representation that the trader has an approval, authorisation or endorsement that the trader does not have, or making such a representation when the trader is not in compliance with that approval, authorisation or endorsement;

That sounds very good but how will it work in practice? It is well known that estate agents tell a bidder that there are other parties interested in a property and that the other bids are higher. I hope that this section of the Bill will prevent potential buyers from being exploited in this way.

Management fees charged in new housing units is another area in which consumers are in need of protection. It is necessary to have management companies in blocks of apartments. The main problem with private management companies is that they impose a form of double taxation through management fees. It is fundamentally inequitable that some residents must pay for a service that their neighbours receive for free and we hope that the NCA will deal with this issue in a thorough manner.

Although they are subject to company law, such private estate management companies are unregulated. Many specific problems are associated with their proliferation in this State, in particular the total lack of accountability to the residents who pay for the services and the fact that the fees charged are often exorbitant and subject to huge increases. In some cases they rise by 300% in a single year without a corresponding improvement in service. The Bill partially defines one facet of unfair commercial practice as something that would be "likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make". The average consumer would not pay a 300% increased management fee unless they were forced into it and this is a perfect example of unfair commercial practice. I hope this Bill will deal comprehensively with these issues.

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