John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

The statutory mandate of the National Consumer Agency as prescribed under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 specifically includes promoting the development of alternative dispute resolution, ADR, procedures as a means of resolving disputes arising out of consumer transactions.

Currently one of the procedures most used by consumers for achieving redress is the Small Claims Court procedure. The Small Claims Court procedure provides an inexpensive, fast and easy way for consumers to resolve disputes without the need to employ a solicitor. Since 2006, the Small Claims Court operates an on-line dispute resolution procedure where claims can be filed on-line. The limit for processing claims in the Small Claims Court was raised to €2,000 with effect from 7 February 2006.

A further development in the small claims area was the adoption last year of an EU regulation establishing a European small claims procedure. The regulation will effectively enable a judgment given in a member state in the European small claims procedure to be recognised and enforced in another member state. I am advised that as part of an overall study in the area of arbitration and redress the National Consumer Agency will later this year, in conjunction with the Courts Service, consider the Small Claims Court and in particular the difficulties consumers can experience in enforcing the judgments of the court.

The agency has also recently developed a code of practice, with the Irish Home Builders Association, to be followed by developers in the development, interim management and sale of multi-unit development properties. The code includes specific provisions for dispute resolution and redress and urges unit owners and developers to use alternative out-of-court mechanisms for resolving disputes.

Europe has been a major catalyst in the development of extra-judicial options for dispute resolution. Much of the work in this area has been focused on ensuring that European citizens have access to cheaper, quicker and more informal dispute resolution mechanisms, thereby enabling them to better reap the benefits of the Single Market. In the specific area of disputes relating to consumer transactions, the European Consumer Centres Network is a network of centres established by the European Commission together with the member states which, among other things, promotes ADR schemes.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The European Consumer Centre in Dublin is funded jointly by the National Consumer Agency and the European Commission. Irish consumers who have a dispute with a retailer in another member state, or consumers in other member states who have a dispute with an Irish retailer, can contact the centre, which seeks to resolve such disputes in co-operation with experts in European Consumer Centres across the European Union. If the centre cannot find a remedy through direct intervention it will seek to assist the parties in taking their disputes to an appropriate ADR body.

The European Commission has promulgated a number of recommendations in an effort to provide a common minimum European standard for ADR schemes. The recommendations set out the standards and principles which should apply to bodies involved in out-of-court settlement and consensual resolution of consumer disputes. The Commission maintains a database of the various ADR bodies in the member states which subscribe to these principles. My Department is responsible for notifying bodies in Ireland to the Commission for inclusion in its database and has notified four such bodies to the Commission to date.

In the area of cross-border disputes, a European directive on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters was promulgated in May this year. This directive is essentially intended to provide a framework to allow parties to a cross-border dispute to attempt to reach an amicable settlement of their dispute with the help of a mediator. The directive must be transposed into Irish law by May 2011. My Department will work closely with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which has overall responsibility for its transposition, on those aspects of the directive relating to cross-border consumer disputes. At a national level, the Law Reform Commission launched a consultation paper on ADR on 30 July this year. The consultation paper contains a significant number of proposals for promoting ADR as a means of resolving disputes, including a number of specific proposals with regard to consumer disputes.

The Deputy will see from the foregoing that a considerable number of initiatives are being undertaken at national and European level in promoting ADR as a means of resolving consumer disputes. ADR offers a considerable advantage by providing parties with a ready and relatively inexpensive means of resolving disputes. I am confident that through the work of the National Consumer Agency and the progression of the aforementioned initiatives, ADR will become a more accepted and mainstream means of resolving consumer disputes.

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