Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I suppose it is the elephant in the room so far as competitiveness is concerned, but can I ask the Minister about the role of sectors that he manages or regulates? Does he accept that half of the inflation generated since 2000, excluding mortgage interest, has been generated by services directly provided or regulated by the Government? Does he intend to benchmark the competitiveness of services such as waste disposal, electricity and communications? These are all areas where Ireland has had a much more rapid increase in costs than any other country in the EU zone. Has the penny dropped with the Government that it is the Minister who manages many of these services and regulates the price increases? Does he not have a responsibility, therefore, for driving down costs in these key sectors? This was not mentioned in his reply.

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