Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I welcome the Bill as far as it goes but I fear consumers will feel removed from the National Consumer Agency. If the consumer is not au fait with legislation, the Bill will not serve its purpose. The functions of the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, whatever they are, will be subsumed into the National Consumer Agency. What difference will that make to the consumer? Will the paraphernalia of the Director of Consumer Affairs be transferred to the National Consumer Agency so that we have the same service as before but with a new name? How can the consumer be better served by this move?

Many consumers feel far removed from the establishment and this agency will be seen as part of that establishment. Consumers will not bother dealing with the bureaucracy to vindicate their rights. It will prove too cumbersome. The Minister should simplify the system and bring the machinery closer to the people, making them feel part of the process and making the system more transparent and meaningful. He should consult the people who perceive the establishment as their enemy and should not commission another report. This would be prepared by some Dublin-based so-called professional who is part of the establishment. Such a person would not know or care how the consumer feels. The answer is not always to commission another report.

I have difficulty with the closeness that will develop between the Minister of the day and the National Consumer Agency. The Bill allows leeway for the Minister to consult the agency and seek reports from it, etc. Will the agency feel obliged to adapt its thinking to suit the Government? The agency should be completely separate from the Government. If it is to earn the respect and confidence of the consumer the new agency must be the champion of the consumer. Links to government will not achieve that champion status.

The new agency will be concerned with prices. Inflation is a major issue and some of the reasons for this are outside our control. Stealth taxes impact on people and we need a responsible debate on the matter rather than the tabloid approach of Mr. Eddie Hobbs. The National Consumer Agency can play an important role in an informed debate if it is seen as totally independent of government and a champion of the consumer.

Unfortunately, this new agency will not cover local authorities. The public are daily consumers of local authority services and need protection and support. Local authorities leave much to be desired in the manner in which they deliver services. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is no help in this regard. He only passes the buck rather than solving problems. Those who are dissatisfied with the service of local authorities have no simple route of redress. The service is not good enough. In recent years we have created a monster in local authorities where the buck never stops at anyone's desk. No one knows anything and everything is referred to someone who cannot be found, will not answer the phone and whose mailbox is full. Calls are not returned because the person is at the launch of something or other. Local authority staff never attend such events alone; they attend in numbers so nothing gets done. The consumer must put up with this and neither the Bill nor the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will help this cause. Someone must accept responsibility. The Government must do so because the public expects action to be taken. They are fed up with being fobbed off.

In recent years local authorities have developed customer charters that contain high and mighty aspirations but nothing real. Worse, they fall back on the customer charter when challenged, even though it is nothing but paper and window dressing. They go through the motions but do not deliver.

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