Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

These matters were discussed on Committee Stage. The law on this is clear as European Union, EU, competition law says self-employment is regarded as an undertaking. It is not legal to have decisions by bodies representing undertakings and concerted practices that have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition in trade in any goods or services in the State. There is clear and established competition law on this that seeks to protect the public from collusion or collective price fixing by undertakings. Both Deputies seek to propose a group of undertakings to remove from this general provision but I cannot accept this.

Price fixing militates against effective competition law and we all recognise that Ireland has not been good at introducing competition into non-trading sectors. We have tended to allow arrangements that fall short of a proper, competitive operating market. In my view the Competition Authority has taken a very clear stance on this, and in both cases mentioned, the outcome of that stance has been agreement with the parties concerned. Irish Equity agreed with the Competition Authority not to breach competition law and to conduct its business in a way that stays within the provisions of competition law while offering support and representation services that are perfectly acceptable. The same goes for small retailers. Advice and technical support are acceptable but straying towards price fixing crosses a line. The Competition Authority is right to insist that a clear line is drawn.

It is worth recalling the court case in May between the IMO and the Competition Authority. The IMO sought to establish a right to negotiate fees for self-employed health professionals and the two parties agreed a settlement that has become a rule of court. The settlement recognised that the IMO cannot negotiate fees and that it is the job of the Minister for Health to determine fees, though consultation is allowed. Consultation went on in the case in question but the idea that a group of undertakings, be they retailers, professionals, lawyers or doctors, could fix prices is unacceptable. Some professional practices in Ireland charge very high fees and are supported by the notion that competition law should not stray into their territory. It is vital that we assert the importance of competition, particularly in non-trading sectors, as the challenge facing Ireland is to rebuild a strong trading economy. We cannot have uncompetitive practices in the non-trading sector while we try to open a more competitive environment for exporters.

It may be of some comfort to Deputy Tóibín that the formal classification under national law of a person as self-employed does not exclude the possibility that the person is a worker, within the meaning of Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Accordingly, a person will not be considered to be an undertaking for the purposes of competition law where the nature of his or her work is such that he or she becomes incorporated into the undertakings for which he or she is engaged to provide services, thus forming an economic unit within those undertakings.

I believe the Competition Authority has taken an important position as we seek to develop competition law. There is a line marking what is acceptable for groups representing members, who are undertakings within the terms of the law. This can apply to professionals, small businesses and large businesses and it is important we respect the line.

Deputy Tóibín made reference to a programme, Towards 2016, that was formulated some time ago.

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