Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have not checked to see whether the next matter I wish to raise is covered in the budget, but the Competition Authority is under-funded. As we all know, there is cartel behaviour in some sectors, but I will not go into the allegations. The troika showed us professional fees decreasing during the recession with one divergent line increasing, namely, legal fees. There appears to be an opportunity to create a robust Competition Authority. According to previous heads of the authority who spoke freely after leaving, it was hopelessly under-resourced to do the job that needed to be done. Has more funding been provided to the Competition Authority in the budget? If not, will the Minister make a case for same in future?

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