Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that the Bill is being brought forward. It is important for our country to make sure that, whatever we are doing in life, we do it in a fair-minded way and ensure as best we can people get value for money. There are many facets of life and business where I feel competition may not be what it should be.

In terms of insurance costs, there is a suspicion we may not have a lot of competition in the market and, therefore, premiums can be dictated very easily. Flood insurance is one such example. When I was a Minister of State in the OPW, I saw first hand the attitude insurance companies had regarding insurance, in particular for homes that had been flooded.

More importantly they used flood maps as a pretext for refusing to give insurance for flood damage. These properties may never have flooded in the last 40, 50 or 60 years. However, because they were in proximity to where there was a slight risk of flood, they were being denied flood insurance.

We need to question the pricing by Internet service providers and the advertising of their products especially regarding the technologies that are available and what they can do. They offer a certain speed of broadband but when it is installed users only get a fraction of that. However, because of the terminology used it is very unfair on the service user and they pay a price for that.

I highlight a dangerous area - that of quarries and what is going on at the moment. Last week Deputy Fitzmaurice spoke about it and I echo those sentiments. An investigation into what is going on in the quarry business is warranted. When we are looking to build roads and other things in the national development plan, we may find that it is not so much that the price is being fixed but that there is an effort by a few to try to exclude new entrants into the quarry business. Many objections to quarries are being submitted from the same sources and that needs to be examined in detail.

When I worked in the construction industry at times I felt a fair price for materials etc. was not being offered. Those practices back in the 1980s were stamped out by good legislation. We now have a more sophisticated and indirect way of trying to control prices. This is important where big companies take control of the market and dictate. Sometimes they put fear into other suppliers who do not want to fall foul of the big players in the game. The Bill is important from that point of view.

While the Bill is important, enforcement of it is what really matters. We need to provide the resources so that we see the results of good law. We need to see a reduction in insurance premiums across the board - for home insurance, car insurance and business insurance. The utility providers need to provide what they promise in their adverts.

Our banking sector has fallen into a very dangerous position with very little competition. We have an opportunity to create a third force or a fourth force in banking by giving more powers to the credit union movement and to the post office network so that they become competitors in the retail banking market. Throughout the country bank branches are closing. Ulster Bank has exited the market and is gone as a competitor. Retail and business banking is in a very precarious position. It is important to open up and ensure that our reputation as an open flexible economy is borne out in our competition legislation.

At the end of the day, we want to ensure that every business has an opportunity to make a profit, but we do not want businesses profiteering at the expense of consumers. If there is no competition, it will add to the inflation we have been talking about in recent weeks. People will act upon an opportunity to increase their prices.

Hotels across the board have increased their prices substantially in recent months. I warn the hotel industry that it received a significant level of support from this Government and previous governments. Hotels need to ensure they do not try to capitalise on that by increasing their prices just because they are back in business now. It is important for them to play fair with their customers.

Overall, I commend the Minister of State's efforts and those of his officials in ensuring we have proper competition in our market. Ireland has a good reputation, but we want to make sure that it is welcoming for new business entrants and for new indigenous business people starting up. If they have the wherewithal to get into business, they must not be stymied by established global competitors that would fear them if they got into the market. We need to watch out for that and be careful about it. We need to ensure we have fair business and fair prices, and that we end up with a reputation that we can remain proud of into the future.

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