Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I too am disappointed and concerned about the amendments and the tenor of the Bill. We can go back to the manifesto. The Minister of State is a business man. He understands the issue better than I or most Members. I appreciate that the Government intends to amalgamate the Competition Authority, the National Consumer Agency, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, and the Commission for Energy Regulation, CER, into a single more powerful competition, consumer and utilities commission. Will that happen? The Bill does not give any indication of an effort in that direction. Is that another broken promise and U-turn?

I am delighted that the Minister of State is a self-professed small business man and that he understands the area. We all know what is going on. Many of the key questions have not been answered. It is a smokescreen to talk about longer prison sentences. I do not know of anyone who has served a short prison sentence, even under the previous legislation. I would be delighted if the civil process was used. Community service would be more appropriate where this law was broken. Restorative justice schemes operate in different areas, for example, in my county of Tipperary. It is a meaningful approach. Most of the businesses in question set up with the best of intentions and credentials but, for whatever reason, they stray into anti-competitive practices and infringe the law. There is no point in going through the court process and giving people one, two or now ten years when they will not serve it. There is no better way to encourage people not to infringe the law than to provide restorative justice in their own patches. People would appreciate it better.

The Competition Authority is a joke. I mean no disrespect to the people in it. I do not know how many people have resigned from it. I do not blame the Minister of State for this, as the last Government was involved too. The authority is without money and, thereby, toothless. It has no power. The cartels are as big as ever. Tesco and other big conglomerates came to Ireland and drove our small businesses out in the name of better value, but it is not better value, as they export all of their money and jobs.

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