Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

I acknowledge the presence of the Minister and welcome the proposed legislation. I welcome the proposal to increase the sentences handed down to people who engage in the practices spelled out in the Bill. It is regrettable we have had to reach the level of the country being practically in the receiver's court for this legislation to be brought forward. The Minister has long being a proponent and an exponent of increasing the country's competitiveness going back to when he was on the Opposition benches. It is regrettable the previous Government did not take on board some of his suggestions during its tenure of office and if it had, we might not have some of the practices to which the EU and IMF had to have drawn to their attention when the memorandum of understanding was being drawn up.

Reference to prison sentences for such practice leads one to talk about white collar crime. It is regrettable there is still nobody behind bars for wrecking the economy of this country. I am sure that point is raised by people with whom the Acting Chairman and all other Deputies are engaged. I know other Members share regret about that. There is an element of frustration among people in that the economy is a basket case but nobody has been held to account before the courts. I know the matter is under investigation but that fact is a matter of great regret.

Given the constituency I represent, one of the issues of concern to me and that is close to my heart is food production. The farming organisations have been very vocal with the Minister's Department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in this regard. We are now relying more than we did previously on the food and agribusiness sector to get this country back to work. The input the food industry can make to getting this country out of receivership must be recognised by the Minister's Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the State. Practices of below cost selling, to which the farming organisations and farmers draw our attention, cause a great deal of angst to the farming organisation and farmers.

The Minister said that he hopes ultimately a reduction in costs and an increase in competitiveness will be achieved, but many of the costs imposed on businesses are within the grasp of the Government and local authorities. One need only reflect on some of the costs businesses have to bear. I have raised this point time and again in terms of the layers of bureaucracy in place. All these layers have to be paid for and, ultimately, the service user has to pay for them. I have raised with the Minister the number of agencies with a remit of creating employment. They all have to be funded out of the public purse. The Government gave a commitment in the programme for Government to reduce the number of quangos, which I and, I am sure, other Deputies would like to see happen. The dequangoisation, so to speak, of this country needs to happen at a much faster pace than it is happening. When people pay a development charge for a connection to a sewerage system, for a road opening licence or whatever, they ask, as a business person, what they get for that and it is difficult to pinpoint and identify the service they get.

One needs to ask how effective regulators have been. In some instances one could almost identify cases where they have been counterproductive. An artificial floor has been maintained for the purchase of utilities or services. We have to ask whether the regulatory system is counterproductive in terms of exacerbating the country's uncompetitiveness. Deputy Tóibín called on us to face the reality of the situation.

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